Onmyou Taisenki Rikari
by Rikarikun
Summary: Basically a rewrite of Onmyou Taisenki's plot that got turned on it's side and decided halfway through the first fourth of the series that it was going to do it's own thing. Currenty in the epilogue phase.
1. Chapter 1

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

"Surely this couldn't be real..." muttered an exasperated Rikari "I mean, stuff like this only happens in anime or manga, or when I'm in a fantasy world, right? How did I get into this mess in a world that was supposedly ignorant to magic?"

It had been a normal day, same breakfast routine, same day at school, same trip home, as routine as things could get for him. The morning had started out with a fine mist, which settled later that day. The weather was very much a sterotypical cool spring day... Those trees with pink flower petals, whatever the denizens of this world called them, were also in bloom, and it seemed there was a festival going on in town at some point in the near future, too.

"Hey, are you okay Rikari?" Rikari flinched

"Huh? Of course, Riku-sempai, why are you asking?"

"Because you have this feeling about you that says otherwise."

'Yikes, I need to remember to keep myself aware around this guy, he's sharp.'

"And there's really no need for the -sempai, why do we have keep going over this?"

"Because I transfered here last week. You're pretty much an upper-classmen to me, even if we are in the same grade."

"If you say so. Anyway the festival is tonight. Are you going with anyone?"

"Actually, no. Are you asking me to come with you because Momo is being a forced tsundere towards you?"

"Erm, what?"

"Nothing... Nothing at all. Anyway, I'll go with you."

So, the rest of the school day passed by like normal. Riku and Rikari walked home together. Momo was nowhere to be found.

"Riku, I'm going to stop by my place on the way home, okay? I'll come by your place once I've gotten changed, and we can kill time if we have to before the festival or something."

"If you say so, Rikari."

And so Riku left the party for a bit. Rikari proceeded to finish walking home. Momo suddenly showed up after he left.

On the way back to his house, Rikari ran into a strange guy with a moped, who, upon noticing the "charm" Rikari was fidgeting with in his hands, gave him a weird wristband and a supposed holder for it.

"Whew, today was tiring. I guess I should probably get changed. I also wonder what these things that weirdo guy, Masaomi or whatever his name was, gave me are actually for. Oh well, I guess it won't hurt to use them."

Rikari's outfit changed from school blazer and uniform to casual wear. Having donned his typical puffy black sleeveless vest, white and gold tee-shirt, and black cargo pants, Rikari headed towards Riku's [strike]house[/strike] appartment complex.

When he arrived, he found that Riku was talking to a rather... jerkish kid with glasses. Why was he even wasting his time on this guy?

"Riku! How long 'till the festival still? Also that guy you were just talking to was a jerk."

"Erm, maybe an hour or two. Also that 'guy' has a name and didn't seem like much of a jerk to me."

"Really? He just treated me like I was trash. I wonder if you're just special."

"Ehehe, I'd rather not think that."

"Hey, Riku?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for being my first friend when I moved here. I'm not very good at making them." "Well, I'm glad I was able to help with that, I guess..."

"Anyway, what should we do while we wait for the festival? Are there any cool places you could theoretically show me that you haven't already?"

"Well I guess there is ONE place."

"Really? Do tell."

"There's this shrine nearby that I used to play at when I was little."

"Oh? I never noticed one nearby, is it in that bamboo glade?"

"Wow, you're sharp. It actually is."

"Wow, I figured nothing was back there. Would you mind showing me over to it?"

"Sure, why not. Just let me leave a note to Grandpa about going out first."

Boys are in transit...

"-And that's how I ended up with this outfit."

"Wow Rikari, you sure do know some intresting people."

"Intresting? Ple~ase. Fubari was hardly intresting. I mean he's still a friend for life and I keep in contact with him, but he was a complete hikkikomori without me or Fain-chan around. I'm glad she is still there to keep an eye on him."

"Sounds like he had a pretty rough childhood before you'd met him. Anyway, we're here." "I see... I guess we should probably go in. Lead the way!"

The boys traversed the bamboo path to the shrine...

Upon arriving at the shrine, and after walking straight past the Heaven-style barrier that affected neither of them, Rikari noticed something.

"Oh boy what's this?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Can't you see it, Riku?"

"No, I can't. What are you talking about?"

"This seal here that says 'barrier'."

"I have no idea what you're talking about Rikari."

"If you say so, Riku."

"Oh! There's my Grandpa, maybe he can tell you what it is!"

"Riku, why have you brought an outsider to the shrine?"

"I still have no idea what you mean when you say that. Anyway, this is Rikari. We met last week after he moved in nearby. We're also in the same class at school. I was going to introduce you two sooner, but he keeps missing you."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Tachibana."

"Well, at least he has manners."

"Fufufufufufufufufu! What do we have here? A heaven-style barrier? Let's smash it, Tsukumo! Shikigami, Summon!"

Suddenly there were rice paper walls floating in the sky and it looked like reality had been warped.

"Aogane no Tsukumo, Kenzan!"

"Quick! You two should go hide in the shrine! As for you two... Challenge accepted."

Mr. Tachibana threw what looked like a card at the shikigami and the character for flame appeared mid-throw, shortly bursting into flames thereafter. Of course it had no real effect. Then he tried the same approach with blade character cards. Then poison, but those got reflected.

"Grandpa!"

"what a waste... You're wasting all these Toujinfu"

'So that's what they're called! I'm noting this for later, assuming my memory isn't wiped and this isn't a dream.'

"Is what you're protecting that important?"

Riku let out a short gasp as he turned around to find something that resembled Rikari's good luck charm, save for the bell.

"This is... what?"

"Riku, why is there a drive in the shrine?"

'Oh my. It seems that I can't get through. Might as well just sit back for a little bit.'

Riku began to reach for the object in question.

"Tsukumo! Break past the barrier!"

"Got it!"

As that was said, the barrier broke.

"Erm, Riku, I think your grandfather is straining himself to keep that barrier that you didn't seem to notice earlier up." "..."

"Go! [Da!-Ri!-Da!]"

As the kid moved his... Device, red lines appeared, after which, the giant bug-shikigami-thing attacked while Riku continued to reach for the drive.

"Gasp!"

"Why do I even bother making comments. Listen if anybody needs m-WAIT WHAT'S HAPPENING."

"Finish them, Tsukumo! [Ri!-Shin!-Da!-Ri!]"

"Hissatsu! Kandata no Sadame!"

Tsukumo then let loose a beam-thing.

"What was that just no-Woah!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON RIKU I AM ALMOST SCARED."

"AGAIN WITH THE SILENCE."

The Shrine was then hit by the attack.

Meanwhile, Masaomi was at the festival, and the pillar fell in both directions. He promtly ragequit the festival and left.

Back at the dilapidated shrine...

"Surely this couldn't be real..." muttered an exasperated Rikari "I mean, stuff like this only happens in anime or manga, or when I'm in a fantasy world, right? How did I get into this mess in a world that was supposedly ignorant to magic?"

"Grandpa!"

"Don't worry. He just used up all his chi energy"

'So that's what magic runs off of here. Noted.'

"Urg! Th-Those drives! You bastards, you were both Heaven-style Toujinshi?"

"Erm what?" "I-I don't know... I..."

"Then what's with those round drives?"

"This is... This is...!"

"Riku... And Riku's friend... Rikari was it?"

"Grandpa!"

"Ugh... The ordinance"

"The what?"

"Hurry up and bring out your shikigami, I can smell that you both suck!"

"Urgh... Move your drives!"

Mr. Tachibana threw a card that turned into the character for lock, and suddenly both drives transfigured into actual Drives. At which point, all the seals on both drives both broke. Along with the brass and crystal bells.

"Damn it I was going to use that to tie my hair ba-WHAT IS HAPPENING."

Suddenly, on Riku's screen: "As expected of the descendant of the Originator..." At which point both screens turned to the side.

"[Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]"

"Erm I'm going to copy you now... [Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]"

Suddenly bright lights and teleportation.

"Erm... Riku... Oh boy where am I..."

"So, who did I get this time? Are you the one that summoned me, Byakko no Sentsa?" "Erm, I suppose." "What kind of response is that?"

"Well, I'm not really sure what happened, but if you're a shikigami, I'd sure appreciate your help."

"Well, are you going to make a contract?"

"Erm, sure." "WHAT I CAN'T HEAR YOU"

"Erm, I mean, BYAKKO NO SENTSA, I'LL MAKE A CONTRACT WITH YOU"

"Now that's more like it!"

"Oh by the way, all we shikigami can do is fight, just thought I'd note it. Anyway, I accept your contract!"

Cue flashy summoning scenes, complete with Sentsa's being a bastardized version between Kogenta and Kibachiyo's entries.

Byakko no Kogenta, Kenzan!  
Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!

His fur was a bright gold, with his stripes being white as pure snow. What he was wearing could only be compared to Kogeta in terms of his pants and belt, which were both different colors, silver pants and a black rope, respectively. His shirt only went to the top of his mid-rift, showing off his finely-toned abs quite nicely. And his tail bell was more... diamond shaped (As in a square, not the cut you'd find on a ring). And made of a clear metal, if that was even possible. He was about the same height as kogenta to boot. However some of his hair was tied in the back into a pony-tail, where as Kogenta had shorter hair. He pretty much looked like a more mature Kogenta.

"So, you're the one? Thought you could make use of me, huh?" Kogenta cracked his neck "Well, then, I'm fighting a really strong opponent, am I?"

"Hey I can't let you have all the glory, Kogenta!"

"Sentsa? How long has it been since we've last seen each other?"

"I'd say at least thirty earth years."

"T-TWO Byakko shikigami? H-He can't be... If I can beat both of them, my style rank will skyrocket! Do it, Tsukumo!"

"I have no complaints about my opponent."

"What? It's just a big cicada."

"Yeah and we're both Byakko. Wanna crush it?"

"You know it!"

"Bring it on."

"Then... I really will cut lose!" Tsukumo flew foreward and hit both Shikigami square in the gut a few times.

"Hey! Why aren't you breaking any In even though you summoned me?"

"In?"

"Don't tell me you summoned me without knowing how to use that Drive..."

"No way..."

"Hurry up! Move the Drive!"

"[Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]"

"It's here! It's here! It's here!"

"Erm, I sppose what Kogenta is saying to Riku applies to me too, Sentsa?"

"Yep."

"Well, I don't actually know any of your In, so I'm going to take a guess and do this... [Shin!-Ri!-Da!]"

"It's here! Setsumaru, Sanjou!"

"What."

"Wow you go straight for the kill, don't you?"

"Erm, what In did I just break?"

"You summoned my sword!"

"I can see that."

Tsukumo lanched an attack, but it was a bit too late. Kogenta had delivered a punch, and Sentsa had placed quite a few cuts.

"Time for the finale! Break the In louder! And with more effort!"

"Gotcha! [Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]"

"Hissatsu! Kogetsukenbu!"

Kogenta split into multipule crescent moons and attacked the Cicada-Shikigami.

"I want some of this action too! Try breaking some more random In till you get one!" "  
Well, I guess I can try! [Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]"

"Hissatsu! Furumunkikkudansu!"

Sentsa ditched his sword and delivered a flurry of kicks to the Cicada-Shikigami.

Both attacks hit the Cicada-Shikigami head on, and then he died, his name appearing mid-air and disintegrating.

The enemy Toujinshi looked like he was about to die for a few seconds, dropped his drive, and flat out left, asking where he was, and whatnot.

"Not too bad. Pulling a Hissatsu technique on your first fight"

"U-um... Um..."

"What is it?"

"Thanks."

Kogenta's face turned a slight shade of pink "Sure."

"You weren't too bad either, guessing some of my In and all..."

"Dumb luck, I assure you. Albeit having some similar In to Kogenta is a plus. Anyway... Riku, since your grandfather is incapacitated, we should get him to the hospital at some point, though I doubt it'll do any good. Do you mind if I stay over at your place while he's gone? I kind of live here by myself and don't own much anyway and I can pay rent if you REALLY want me to."

"Now really isn't the time to be discussing this stuff, but for now, sure."

"Sweet. I'll go pack."

Later.

"By the way Riku, do you have the means to make hard boiled eggs?"

"Yes, why?"

"Good. I like them. A lot."

TO BE CONTINUED.


	2. Side chapter 1

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

After the events of episode one, Rikari went home to pack.

"Hmmm... I wonder how Riku's going to respond to my moving in, and the fact that I actually have a rather tidy sum of money saved up due to the fact that I live by myself... By the way, Sentsa, I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Rikari Satio, the pleasure is all mine."  
"It's nice to meet you. I am Byakko no Sentsa, one of the Shikigami that governs over the 24 seasons." "Well, since you have nothing better to do, you're helping me move my stuff. Shikigami Summon!" "Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!" "Anyway I don't have THAT much to move, a lot of this stuff came with the house, and it's pretty much a double bedroom house that didn't have much in it to begin with. I mean I was GOING to furnish it, but whatever".

Boys are packing...

After a little bit, Masaomi showed up.

"Oh, hey, you're that guy from before. Thanks for the holder and the band by the way, it turned out I needed them after all. By the way, since you gave me them, I'm assuming you're also a Heaven-Style Toujinshi?"  
"My, my, you catch on fast. Yes, I am Masaomi, the Seiryuu user of the Heaven-Style."  
"And I'm Seiryuu no Kibachiyo, pleased to make your aquaintance." "Nice to meet both of you, Masaomi and Kibachiyo. I suppose I should also introduce myself, too. I'm Rikari Satio, a Byakko user of the Heaven style. I'm on my way to move in with a friend whose grandfather just exhausted his chi, so he's living alone at the moment. The Byakko behind me is Byakko no Sentsa, by the way. It's probably best that I get going, though. Nice seeing you again".

Boys are leaving...

"I wonder why that kid has a Byakko type Shikigami too. I thought only the Originator had a Byakko... This could get intresting..." 


	3. Chapter 2

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

While moving his stuff over to Riku's house, Rikari found that Riku still wasn't home yet.

'I suppose I should probably go to the hospital and bring him back. Magic probably isn't that cheap, so his grandfather probably won't wake up for a bit I guess I'll look for the eggs and ask Sentsa about what stuff regarding fights...'

After finding the materials he needed for his midnight snack, Rikari set up the stove with them, along with a timer to check on them.

"So, Sentsa, you're going to need to tell me a few things about the shikigami battles. For instance, what happens if you 'die' in a battle?"  
"Well, supposedly, you lose your memories of being a toujinshi." 'Noted. Glad I met Riku BEFORE I made this contract.' "And you lose your ability to recontract me if you somehow DO retain your memory. It used to be that you'd only lose the ability to recontract, which could be countered by using a partner's lost shikigami, if you had one." "Okay, on to my next question. Kogenta and that kid said that Mr. Tachibana had exausted his Chi. Chi is essentially magic, but it isn't cheap and takes a while to replenish if you use too much of it, am I getting it right?" "Well... It's difficult to explain, but that's pretty much the jist of it." "I'm dissappointed that we were on the same page, but whatever. Next question. Do you actually have any In you can teach me at some point? I'd be rather thankful if you did." "Well, I do, but we should probably save that for later. Unlike Kogenta, I'd prefer to not get ahead of myself. Even being a Shikigami of trust, I've lost a partner too many to that In to want to just hand it out." "Okay. So where do I find the rest of them?" "Well, you're going to have to travel to find them. Kogenta's probably going to make Riku his bitch for a bit in order to get them, so why don't you tag along with him?" "Um, sure... I guess. It's probably better than staying here. Plus me may meet more members of the Heaven-Style. Safety in numbers, right?" "That would most likely be the correct answer." "Anyway after I'm don-*BEEEEEEEEEEP*-Oh look at that my eggs are ready. Do you want some?" "Sorry. I don't actually ever feel need to eat. And I rarely need to sleep either." "No fun at all, I swear. Oh well, I'll just have to eat all of these..."

Heading to the kitchen, Rikari muses to himself. 'At least there's only five of them. I wonder if Riku'll want some. I think I'll actually only have two of them and save the rest for tomarrow during lunch. I bet I can use it as a peace offering towards that Kamiya kid if I make something nice using pickled radish and some of the hard boiled eggs if I throw in some rice balls. I'm glad I almost always make some when my supply runs low. I'll have to set an alarm to wake up earlier than normal to prepare three lunches and still have time to finish that 1:144 Freedom I bought the other day...' "Oh, that's right! Sentsa, what are you going to do while I'm attending school during the weekdays?" "Good question. Seeing as you should be taking your drive with you, assuming there aren't any miko, I'll just be minding my own business." "Okay. Anyway, I'm heading to bed now. Do whatever while I'm asleep I guess".

And with that Sentsa jumped back in the Drive, which was clipped to Rikari's pants, but then placed on a table for the night.

The next morning...  
*BEEEEEEEEEEP*  
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WHAT WAS THAT?"  
"YOU'RE ASKING ME? DON'T YOU KNOW MORE ABOUT HUMAN THINGS THAN SOMEONE LIKE ME WHO DOESN'T CARE ABOUT THEM?"  
"Oh boy it seems I've startled Riku... And possibly Kogenta too" Rikari sighed. He had forgotten to leave a note to Riku that he was upstairs since he went up before Riku had gotten home. Riku probably wasn't even aware he was here. "Sorry Riku! I forgot that not everybody is up at five in the morning! I'll be a bit more cautious with my alarm from now on!"

After turning off his alarm, Rikari got out of bed, grabbed his drive and it's case, and placed it on his school uniform, not bothering to change out of his pajamas just yet. "Now then... time to work on lunch and make a bit more progress on the Freedom. As much as I hate Gundam SEED, they have damn good Gundam designs and I like them!" And with that, Rikari went downstairs to prepare lunch using the eggs he had boiled last night, along with some pickled radish and rice balls, which in this case had stir-fired octopus in them.

Later that morning...

Walking downstairs, Riku yawned a bit, quickly noticing the smell of the breakfast he knew he hadn't cooked.  
"What's that delicious smell...?"  
"Oh good, you're awake. Sorry about earlier, I'm not used to having other people living with me anymore. I figured I'd make you breakfast to make up for it. How was your visit to the hospital last night?" "Well, Grandpa is... for lack of better words, in a coma." "Well, that probably happens when you work yourself to the point of passing out at his age. He'll probably wake up at some point, knowing him."  
Both of them share a pained laugh, knowing full well that it wasn't the best thing to be laughing at.  
"Anyway, it's almost time for school, so we should probably eat this sutff already! I've already taken care of serving it, and just finished washing the dishes. Waking up at five has it's advantages."

After the two Toujinshi finish eating, they wash their plates and are out the door and on the way to school. Riku stops at the mini-shrine next to the house and quietly says [shin-kan-da-ri]. 'Well, now I know that his Grandpa was secretly preparing him for this. I wish I'd been this lucky'. Neither of them notice Kogenta after he tries to get Riku's attention, however.

Fastforward to the middle of class. Kogenta has just made himself known again to Riku.  
"Could it be that normal people can't see you in that state?"  
"Yeah. Only Toujinshi with a Drive and miko should be able to see me... But sometimes... "  
And then a girl in the class shrieked and promptly passed out.

A little bit of time passed, then lunch happpened.

"Quickly, to the roof!" Rikari exclaimed, thinking fast, just after they got a break for lunch. Riku however, had already exited the door, leaving Rikari to look like an idiot.

Now on the roof with a slightly irritated Kogenta who was questioning Riku on why he was still in this place that appearantly lacked sense called a school, Rikari was sitting down nearby.

"So, I guess that means I'm tagging along with them when they go to hunt for In?"  
"Yep."  
"Sounds legit. Though I'm a little irritated that I didn't get to share my lunch wit-Wait who's that?" 'That girl from earlier, Rina, was it? Maybe she's up for sharing this.' "Hey, your name is Rina right?" Rina flinched."Y-yes... I'm not doing anything suspicious here, just admiring Tora-san." "Whatever you say, miko-girl, whatever you say. Anyway, do you want some of my lunch? I made a little too much and was going to share it with Riku, but as you can see, his friend 'Tora-san' is keeping him busy. It's really good, I promise." "Um... Okay...?" "Oh, by the way, I have a friend like that, too. He's just a lot more quiet, so he's currently... For lack of better words, hiding. I'll introduce you to him sometime." "Tora-san..." "Oh boy she's in her own little world. I think I'll just leave her here now..."

And so Rina and Rikari ate lunch together while Riku was on the receiving end of Kogenta's irritation.

Fastforeward to after school. The party is now at Riku's house again.

"Riku, I'm going to go get changed and mess with my Gunpla. Let me know if you're going out, I'm comming with you regardless of where it is due to the fact that those Earth-Style people seem to be psychotic. Also if you go rummaging through stuff and you find any of those cards from last night, I want some, okay?" "If you say so... Though I doubt I'll find anything though, since I'm only grabbing a change of clothes for grandpa, but I will let you know when I'm leaving."

Later...

'Oh, isn't he Kamiya from our class?' "Oh, Kamiya-kun."  
"I remember you..." "I'm in your class. I'm Tachibana." "And I'm Satio, but you can call me Rikari." "Oh, now that you mention it, there were some guys like that..." "Thank you for helping me that time." 'I wasn't in the room yet when that happened, was I? I probably heard it down the hall, though...' "You saw that I was in trouble and spoke up for me..." "Bah, it was nothing like that. At the time, I was just irritated because there were stupid brats everywhere." "Is that so...?" "Hey... It's dicey walking around places like this at night. At least you have a person with you, but still." "I know. Actually though, my grandfather is in the hospital and I was going to bring some clothes for him." "You could just let your parents do that." 'Ouch. That probably hit a nerve.' "I don't have any parents." "S-Sorry. It must be tough in many ways..." "Nah. I'm surprised with all the things that have been happening lately. That and Rikari here moved in with me, so I'm not exactly alone, so I'm fine." "It's really okay, you didn't have to say anything..." Kamiya started to walk away "In hard times... Eat your veggies, okay?" 'Well, it's not like I'm the only person that's cooked anything in the day I've been staying there or anything...' "Hey, Riku, we should get moving, there could be a Earth-Style user roaming the streets. I'd rather not get into another midnight brawl."

Later...

"Well, I'm going to go prepare something Riku. See you inside!" Rikari then proceeded to run ahead.  
"Where did you go at this time of night?" "Oh, Momo-chan. Ah! Sorry. I just went for a walk."

Fastforward to the end of the next school day since nothing important occurs that's worth noting, at least on Rikari's end.

Rikari and Riku are exiting the gate, Momo is gushing over her self-enforced faked Tsundere act that she refuses to get over.

"Hey Riku." "What?" "There are two people following us. I mean not that I care or anything." "Okay..." "Anyway, now that I think about it, there should be something at the shrine. Let's go look at it." "Whatever you say, Riku."

And so they went to the shrine. And then Riku faked surprise at the girls following them when a wild toujinshi appeared.

"This way!" "Oh boy here we go."  
"Wait!"  
"Shikigami, Summon!" "Shikigami, Summon!"

Suddenly flashy summoning scenes.

"Byakko no Kogenta, Kenzan!"  
"Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!"

'Man, I am never going to get used to this'.  
"So, who do we have today?"  
"B-Byakko no Kogenta! Oh and who is this Byakko?"  
"What? Byakko? Two like Rangetsu?" "What a murderous intent..." "Don't panic! If we can beat them, we'll gain a higher rank than Yuuma! Go, Mumyou! [Da!-Ri!-Da!-Kan!]"

Suddenly fire launching attacks ensue from the enemy Shikigami.

"Not enough."  
"You're a hundred, no a thousand years too early to even consider beating me." "Hey, break the In!" "You too, Rikari!"  
"Yeah! [Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]"  
"Got it! [Shin!-Ri!-Da!]"

More fighting ensues. Eventually Riku notices the mirror move trick the enemy is pulling and redirects his attack. The Shikigami's abbacus breaks.

"Go! Kogenta! [Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]"  
"You too, Sentsa! [Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]"  
"Hissatsu! Kogentsukenbu!"  
"Hissatsu! Furumunkikkudansu!"

Suddenly more flashy attacks and then the enemy Shikigami melts. His name characts appear and then disintegrate. Cue cheesy moment where Rina is rubbing herself against Kogenta's leg. Sentsa expresses his jelousy in the most eloquent way possible.

"Well, it would appear that we've found the Originator, Masaomi."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	4. Chapter 3

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

"What? You don't know a single thing about the In?"  
"So it seems..." "Don't say it so flippantly! Well, since it's me, it doesn't matter either way. Normally, people should know at least three or four In."  
"For the record, I guessed mine."  
"I don't think he cares, Rikari." "Oh fine, I'll just stay quiet." "Anyway, I found this memo inside Grandpa's box." 'I'm willing to bet my completed Freedom gunpla it's probably a key for deciphering that book that he found yesterday.' "How's the Tai In, or something." "what's that?" "It looks like Grandpa wrote this memo. But this place isn't so far away, so I thought we'd go and look tomarrow." "Oh! it seems you're showing some more Touhinshi qualities." "Um, yeah. Well, tomarrow I have a break from school, and I'm not in any club activities anyway. I have lots of spare time." "Why you...! You were only planning to kill time? Sit here!" "I am sitting..." "You... In the first place, a Toujinshi is supposed to..." "And I'm out of here for the night. I'll be in my room working on gunpla, kay?"

Upstairs

"Wow Rikari that was cold of you to just leave him there."  
"I'm not dealing with that foul-mouthed brat of a god any more than I have to until he warms up to Riku and loses the arrogant attitude, at least temporarily. It irritates me to no end and is probably going to get him killed at some point. Anyway, help me decide on which gunpla to build next. I have about five more of them, and since I actually have a place to display them, I figured I'd start building them to display here." Rikari then proceeded to pull the gunpla boxes he'd bought on the way home just before the festival started and presented them to Sentsa. "Well... This is odd... How about... The one with the Moustache?" "The Turn A? You have good taste. Very well, Turn A 1:144 it is! By the way, did you know that in the story this Gundam is from, it has the ability to flat out ruin all things electronic?" "Oh? Really? That's certianly a dangerous ability." "Mhm. The pilot of it was a guy from the moon, and he was pretty damn beta at that, so viewers only really got to see him use it a few times, and boy, was it cool." "You're going to have to show me this... Story some time. It intrests me for some reason." "You bet!"

And so Rikari spent a good part of his night assembling a Turn A 1:144 gunpla.

Fastforward to the next day at the train station. Riku, Rikari, Rina, and Momo were all present.

"Soooo why are they here?"  
"Good question."  
"Hey, Riku. If we're going to be looking for In, how come these guys are tagging along?"  
"Asou-san just really wants to be by your side." "Ew, that's gross." 'Kogenta confirmed for childish.' "Sentsa, I win the bet. He's made zero progress since you've last met. Pay up." "Very well. I am a Shikigami of my word too after all... I'll stay out of the drive and let you pass me off as a guy 'cosplaying' for today." Sentsa had attempted to get Rikari to give Kogenta another chance last night while Rikari was partially assembling his Gunpla. It ended with a bet. Had Rikari lost, he'd have had to admit he was wrong and apologize to Kogenta like he actually meant it.  
"Why is Momo-chan here?"  
"I... Um... "  
"Okay I understand that you like him and want to play hard to get, but we're going to miss the train so can you guys hurry up please?" "I-I-It's not like that at all!" 'Lies and slander. I can see right through it, you fake tsundere.' "Look, whatever, we're going to miss the train if you guys don't hurry up."

And then everybody got on the train because Rikari was irritated and used it to corral everybody on.

Later, on the train...

"So we're looking for this person named Kogenta's 'In' or something?"  
"He's not a person."  
"He's a shikigami. Like me." "Wah! Who are you?" "I'm Byakko no Sentsu. I lost a bet with Rikari, so I have to be out of the drive for now."  
"Anyway... What's this 'In'" "I don't really know, but I guess it's a certain way to move the Drive." "Drive?" "Yeah, this thing." "So where is the thing that'll let you 'move' this Drive?" "Mmmm... Actually, I don't really know." "Tachibana-kun, is Tora-san out right now?" "No, he's not out right now, but..." "This..." Rina proceeded to outright spawn a red snapper fish filet with what looked like silvervine garnishes "I made this bento for Tora-san. It's a catnip snapper." "Uh... Will you eat it?"  
"NO. WHO THE HELL WOULD EAT THAT?" "A normal cat. But we're Byakko. I might as well attempt to try it though, since I'm going to be out of the drive all day, and I might actually end up having to act like a normal person, so I figure I'll attempt to get some practice in now."

What happened next... was, at best... comedic... at worst, slash... Sentsa found out that his taste buds were super sensative and couldn't eat another bite of it past the first one. He insisted that Kogenta try some of it after he'd tried it, however his face immediately turned red and he was suddenly all over Rikari.

Fastforward to the mountian path since the slash fiction isn't in effect yet.

"Rikkun, is it really here?"  
"I wonder..."  
The party comes across a statue.  
"The priest is pointing the way, so it's probably around here somewhere." "Is it really reliable?" asked a really flustered Momo while flailing an arm. "It's even ritten in this memo. 'Continue in the direction where the priest is pointing."

Cue montage of preist statues and Sentsa being glued to Rikari in every single still.

"So, is that thing surrounded by the barrier it? I'm going to be the first one there!"  
"Could an In really be hidden in a place like this?"  
Rina looked like she'd just seen a ghost.  
"I sense something here. It isn't Tora-san." "Asou-san?"  
"It's... probably best if we just leave them be, Riku. We should focus on finding the next statue."

Suddenly glowing Drives.

"Erm, do these things normally do this?" "How should I know? We got them at the same time."

Suddenly glowing path down the rocks.

'I'm almost willing to bet that's the In Riku's after. I'm noting the shape for later... That keystone might work for me though.'

Suddenly Riku falls down some steps and lands flat on his ass.

"Erm, are you okay Riku?" "Ow ow ow..."

Skipping ahead to the keystone.

"I was getting tired of waiting. I was getting bored of waiting here for a Heaven-style Toujinshi, but lookie here, I get to exterminate TWO of them. Man, this really paid off. Now, summon your shikigami! Now! Let's go! Shikigami Summon!"

Cue dull mook summoning scene...

"Kanro no Komaki! Kenzan!"

The girls squeal.  
"Momo-chan, take Asou-san and hide with her in the bushes somewhere over there where you WON'T get caught in the crossfire."  
"Right."  
"Right." "Comming out this far for a fight..."  
"I'm not happy about it! Sentsa, if you wouldn't mind?" "Shikigami, Summon!"

Cue flashy summoning sequence.

"Byakko no Kogenta, Kenzan!"  
"I suppose I should probably just walk forward now..." Said a rather put down and bored sounding Sentsa as he detatched himself from Rikari's arm and stepped foreward next to Kogenta "Sigh... Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan..."  
"Geez. I thought I told you not to call me out in such a dried up place, didn't I?"  
"You're so annoying. Quit complaining." "What's this? What's this? Today's opponent is a little pipsqueak?" 'And there goes my patience for him for the day. I'm going to give Riku a short lecture about this later.' "I feel sorry for you, but we have a new In in our hands now." 'Again with the arrogance. I doubt Riku has figured it out yet, though, so I'll keep quiet.' "We'll get rid of you in the blink of an eye. Right?" Riku flinches. He knows if they don't win this fast that he's getting a lecture. He has to figure out that new In, pronto. "Come on, Riku!" "Ah! Okay! [Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]" "Geez, it's just a little pest. You're wasting your energy playing with them. Are you saving that new In for a later time?" 'Strike two. One more and I'm going to flat out tell Riku and then bitch this brat to Naraku and back. Come to think of it, what is Naraku, and why did I think of that name just now... All I can think of is that it's a synonym for Hell.' "Now, let's go!" Kogenta goes to take a swipe, and fish-girl dodges it. "OH FOR... Riku, I need you to listen and listen closely. The path down here is your hint. Now I'm going to start trying random combinations starting with the rock shape over there. Have fun. By the way, Kogenta's getting slashed up over there, you might want to make a move fast."

Riku starts flailing about using the only In he knows while trying to figure out Rikari's hint.

"Okay Sentsa, here goes nothing! [Ri!-Shin!-Kan!]"  
Sentsa goes flying. However it's not a Hissatsu, or even anything useful. Just a speed boost.  
"Erm, sorry Sentsa, that's all I can think of."  
"I guess this works. Let's hope that they figure out an In for him soon."

cue Kogenta getting his ass kicked everywhere by the fish girl and a reasons why you suck speech delivered from Kogenta to the Earth Toujinshi and her Shikigami.

"Now! Riku! Let's toss everything we have left at them in one shot!"  
"Okay!" 'I still haven't figured out where the In is... Wait, the path... Could he have meant... OH I GET IT! THE SHAPE OF THE PATH!' "Kogenta! This is the new In! [Shin!-Ri!-Shin!]" Kogenta proceeds to slap the fish-girl. "I... Hit her? Anyway let's finish this Riku!" 'Arrogance point deducted. Kogenta used his name." "Gotcha! [Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]" "Hissatsu Kogetsukenbu!"

Cue the Fish-girl getting sliced up and disintegrating.

Cue Kogenta being a brat.

"I take back all the good things I just said. He's still a brat..."

"Are you the Heaven-Style Originator?"  
The voice comes from atop the cliff.  
"It does seem like you use a strong shikigami, but if the originator is at that level, that that's a disgrace to the Heaven-Style. Or are you another impostor who has assumed the Originator title?"  
"Originator? Impostor you say?"  
"I dislike people who just babble on and on... Unfortuneately for you, you'll both be dissappearing here!"  
"What's this killing intent?"  
'Shit. Kogenta's noticed it too. This is really bad.'  
"Be cursed by your own weakness! Shikigami, Summon!"

Cue flashy summon.

"Byakko no Rangetsu, Kenzan!"  
"It can't be... He's... That shikigami is..."  
"Byakko no Rangetsu. 'We should probably run now Rikari. You too, Riku. This guy is danger incarnate.'"  
"'I know. But we have to stay and support Riku, Sentsa.'"  
"It's been a while, Kogenta. You too, Sentsa. I wouldn't have thought you would have both made a contract with new Toujinshi!" "M-m-my, how long has it been, Rangetsu? At least ten years, I'm sure." "Same goes for you!"  
"Do you know him?" "Not only do I know him... Our history goes back hundreds of years... No, thousands of years." "'Yeah, some of it was in my bed, too.'" "'Stop that Sentsa. You're only going to make things worse.'" "It'd be better if I were the only Byakko." "Byakko? A Byakko just like Kogenta and Sentsa?" "Riku! This guy is completely different from the others whom we've met up until now. Put everything you have into this!"  
"Rangetsu, sorry to interrupt the moment, but let's settle this for them." "Yeah." "Let's go! Rangetsu!"

Meanwhile, in a location nearby...

"This doesn't look good! Kibachiyo!"

Back to the present location.

"Descend into Hell! [Ri!-Da!-Ri!-Shin!]"  
"Hissatsu! Resshi Taigyakuken!" And then a sword was thrown at the sky. It came back much bigger. And on fire.

Suddenly Card barrier.

"Ahahahahahaha! Run! Run!"  
"Hey! What are you doing! Let me go!"  
"I like how they left us behind. Let's catch up with them shall we?"  
"Agreed."

So everybody ran away.  
Later...

"Man... I'm beat..."  
'Hey... this guy is Masaomi... Right?' "I don't like working up a sweat."  
"Thank you so much for saving us from that dangerous situation."  
"Erm, he didn't grab me, but that's okay because we still got away. Not that it matters or anything."  
"Keh! It was completely unnecessary." "Please excuse him." "No, it's fine. You guys are my nakama, after all." "Nakama? Who are you people?" "Oh! Oh! I know this one! The Shikigami is Seiryuu no Kibachiyo and he is Masaomi!" "Oh? You're that guy from the other day. So you were moving in with him? 'This is not going according to keiaku, but I can't abort just yet.' By the way, which one is your lover?" Momo flinches and blushes. Rikari blushes slightly at the fact that he was just included in that.

TO BE CONTINUED.


	5. Chapter 4

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

Juice dropped down into the dispensing part of the vending machine. The party had just gotten past a really close call.

"Here you go."  
"Thank you."  
"You too."  
"Thank you."  
"And you."  
"I guess this makes up for my having to abuse the few Toujinfu that I actually had to get away with the rest of the group worth it..."  
"And you as well."  
"Thank you very much."  
"Thanks for the drinks!" is stated in unison by Momo and Rina as they go to open their drinks, and then proceed to down them. "Ah! Delicious! I'm in Heaven!" Again, said in unison.  
"Aren't you doing to drink yours, Riku?  
"Erm..."  
"No need to hold back. You're thirsty, aren't you?"  
"Oh, yes... Um... Masaomi-san"  
"You don't need the -san, Tachibana Riku-kun."  
"No... Masaomi-san, well..."  
"We really don't have much time... You can stop being so formal."  
"'Yeah but we had enough time to stop and buy drinks. You freaking bought me limeade too.'"  
"'I know you're not very happy with the guy right now Rikari, but don't go overboard yet. You can always challenge him to a duel later.'"  
"'Fine Sentsa. Fine.'"  
"Well, I don't need you to swallow the story of some mysterious man who appeared out of nowhere, but Riku-kun, there's some information that I want you to hear."  
"Information?"  
"Oh! That's right! Before that..." Masaomi then proceeded to approach Riku "Just a sec..." Riku proceeded to flinch as Masaomi innocently placed a Drive holder on his belt. Some people don't like being touched by strange men is probably a good reason "As proof of my acquaintance... Here's a Drive holder." Riku's Drive was then placed in it. "See? It's perfect. Oh and I need to see your right arm, too."  
"Huh? Okay."  
Masaomi then put a Style Ranker on Riku.  
'I wish he'd gone through that effort with me...'  
"This is the Style Ranker; It acts like a license for Toujinshi."  
"Thank you very much."  
"Hey, I'm going to chime in for a second. As nice a conversation as you guys are having, I'd like to request something from Masaomi-san." Rikari had seen his opening and taken it.  
"Erm, what is it?"  
"A duel. Next time you're around town and are, well, availible, I need to discuss a few things with you, while we're at it. I can wait a bit though, but don't keep me waiting too long or the next time I spot you with Riku, I'm chaining you up and confinscating your Drive and Toujinfu so I can interrogate you myself. And don't believe that I'm not capable of it."  
"'How would you even manage that, Rikari?'"  
"'Shush, Sentsa. I'm bluffing. Hopefully he'll buy it. I can back up the capable part though, I have training with swords. Check the seams of my pant legs later if you don't believe me.'"  
"Um... I guess I can oblige you. I'll contact you in a few days, I suppose."  
"Sounds like a deal. Now you can finish your conversation."  
"Okay... As I was saying... It's probably likely that you guys are just going to lose at this rate, even if you are teamed up with your Byakko user friend there. And to prevent that from happening, there's a place I wat you to go to right now. It's an hour north from here by bus. It's called Mt. Myourei. Half way up the mountian y-"  
"That's quite a story."  
"Shut up, Kogenta. You've been nothing but a dick since after the battle earlier and I'm getting irritated."  
"Did I just hear a challenge?"  
"If Sentsa wasn't against it, I'd certianly say it was. However I'm very tied to his whims on that matter."  
"Hello?"  
"Oh, right. Please continue."  
"Half way up the mountian, you should probably be able to find the Saikaidou Kotetsu In for Kogenta."  
"Wh-What?"  
"Even though things seem this way, I have high hopes for you guys. I've got to get going now, though. See you later, Riku!"  
Masaomi then proceeded to hop on his moped and leave.  
"Hey, Riku-kun, are you going to drink?"  
"Huh?"  
"The juice."  
"But it's grapefruit."  
"What a coincidence. Mine was Limeade. Let's trade."  
"Well, I guess it's better than nothing..."

Suddenly suprpise Masaomi visit.

"Riku-kun, I forgot to tell you something. About people. The're always waiting for somebody to confess to them."  
Momo blushed and made noises and Rikari almost punched Masaomi off his moped on the spot.

And so Rikari and Riku traded drinks and the party went on it's merry way.

Fast forward past the bus ride since the original dialogue was rather misleading and it would consist of Rikari bitching at or about Kogenta anyway. On a side note, since this technically takes place on the same day as chapter/episode three, Sentsa is still out of his drive.

"Wouldn't it have been better to have gotten on a bus that went up Mt. Myourei?"  
"Riku, your common sense today is amazing, but I'm just about used to thinking with crazy logic thanks to our Seiryuu-using buddy that may or may not have just attempted to pair us together like slash fiction. Let's just go in before I lose my sanity, too."  
"Okay..." 'The things he says worry me sometimes.'

Fast forward to a wild Teru appearing in the bushes. Rikari chooses to stay hidden with Sentsa because all of the weird that's been gravitating around Riku today is making him paranoid that it might be an earth style toujinshi.

Cue Teru's introduction and scarfing down the bentos that Riku, Momo, and Rina had packed. Rikari chuckles at it because he secretly packed extra boxed lunches.

Cue Teru leaving and the party proceeding.

"Well, that guy was weird. Did he say he was a Heaven-Style Toujinshi? What was his name? Are we going to run into him again in the near future?"  
"Yes, Teru, and probably not. He went the other direction."  
"Oh well, it's really too bad. We just met another Heaven-Style user."  
"We really could use more allies..."

The party had reached an open area with a small shrine gate embedded in a tree that had a rope around it.

"Well well well, what do we have here? I planned to go after a stupid bug, but...  
"It seems that we've met more Heaven-Style users."

A small boy and a man come oout from behind the tree.

"Oh boy, here we go. I'll do the honors and tell Momo and Rina to hide this time, Riku."

Girls are hiding...

"Anyway, we were about to fight?"  
"That was... odd."  
"Shikigami Summon!"  
"Shikigami Summon!"

Cue boring Mook summon effects.

"Enoki no Otochika! Kenzan!"  
"Tsubaki no Gorouza! Kenzan!"

"Okay I guess this means we're doing this the hard way. Riku, do you want to do the honors?"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue flashy summon effects.

"Byakko no Kogenta, Kenzan!"

"Alright, go get 'em Sentsa."

Sentsa proceeded forward from behind Riku and Rikari.

"Sigh... Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan."

"Okay curbstomp time. Let's direct our attacks at one target and hope to god this crazy plan I have works. Aim for the bear first, guys!"

Cue standstill battle untill, suddenly, a Wood elemental area appears.

"Rikari, this is NOT good! Kogenta and I are both of the Earth element! These guys are of the Wood element! This means we have a disadvantage!"  
"Great. You know what, how about this. We wait for some dramatic twist of irony or something. Maybe the Sai-"

Suddenly the tree raises up out of the ground. It was appearantly on top of a keystone. There was a character on it.

"Speak of the devil and he shall come. I think that's the Saikaidou Kotetsu In, Riku! It looks to be the same as the Setsumaru In for Sentsa. I wonder why..."  
"I'm... Going to go get a better view of it. Best of luck. Keep Kogenta alive for me in the meantime, okay?"  
"No promises on that, but since it's for you, I'll try."

So then Riku went and found the Saikaidou Kotetsu In, and then Teru and his Shikigami Isorku showed up. Isoroku promptly blocked an attack from the bear shikigami that Sentsa had been too busy trading blows with the monkey shikigami to have been able to block.

"Akagane no Isoroku! Kenzan!"  
"Earth-Style! Two against one isn't fair, but two against two in a disadventageous battlefield is just about as bad! So, now let's have a fair fight."

Cue a little more battling before Riku finding the In he was looking for. Followed by Isoroku melting the monkey shikigami.

"Found it! [Shin!-Ri!-Da!]"  
"It's here, It's here, It's here, It's here, It's here, It's here, It's here, It's here! It's here, It's here, It's here, It's here, It's here, It's here!" Kogenta was waging his tail like an excited cat. 'Dear god, it's like he's an excited kid at a toystore or something.'  
"Saikaidou Kotetsu! Sanjou!"

Cue the bear being melted by a tiger character attack.

Later, after Teru had said bye too the party and left...

"Well, that fight was intresting... Riku, you and Kogenta are my sparring partners for the next week because of this, since Teru just up and left before I could even introduce myself and Setnsa. How rude".  
"Um... Okay..."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	6. Side chapter 2

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

Shortly after arriving home, Rikari went upstairs and all but fell on his futon after putting it out.

"Whew. Today was exhausting. I almost feel bad for letting Riku go out to buy more food by himself. I really hope he remembers to pick up my sweets, though. I mean I did give him the extra money for them, and the eggs, too..."  
"Come to think of it, your pants have been making weird noises all day. Could you show me what's in the seams, since you said to ask you later?"  
"Oh, right. I've got tonfa sheathed in the outer parts of my pants in the seams. I've a license to use them and everything. They're mostly for self defense, so if asked I have to justify removing them from the sheathes, but otherwise I always have some form of backup defense against things. Most people would call me crazy if they found out that I had them, too."

Rikari then got off his futon and proceeded to start partially stripping out of his clothing.

"I'm going to take a bath in a little bit. Go ahead and try to find the tonfa in my pants while I'm getting ready. Feel free to join me in the bath if you want, I'll groom your coat for you if you do. Just don't break my pants trying to find them, they special tailored for me by a close friend! Also, check the inside of my jacket and let me know if there's enough space for a deck of Toujinfu in there."

And so, Rikari exited his room, wearing nothing more than his slightly oversized shirt and underware, headed downstairs, left a note for Riku, who was out at the store still, grabbed Sentsa's attention again, and then went to take a bath, with Sentsa in tow.

"I still think this is a bad idea..."  
"Oh calm down, you'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?"  
"I can think of plenty of things, most of which are impossible in this situation."  
"Okay smartass, for that I'm not going to be as gentle as I was planning to be."

And so, having stripped himself and his Shikigami down and entered the bath, Rikari proceeded to brush Sentsa's fur. Which had a surprisingly small amount of problems with it, seeing Sentsa is immortal, and therefore never needs to really do anything to take care of himself regularly.

"Wow, how'd you manage this? I'm willing to bet that Kogenta has way more grooming problems than this."  
"I take care of my fur I guess? Although my case is really helped by the fact that I actually take care of myself when I'm not under a contract."  
"If you say so. Anyway, I'm getting tired, so I'm going to finish up and go to bed. Since it's the end of the day, you can go back in your drive now if you want."  
"..." 'Salvation...'

And so the day ended.


	7. Chapter 5

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

Riku combersomely makes his way in through the front door with Masaomi right behind him.

"I'm home. I brought Masaomi-san with me, too."  
"Welcome back. What's with the vegetables, by the way? Did you run into Kamiya? Oh, and hi there Masaomi-san, I'm sure you haven't forgotten our agreement, but we just made it this afternoon, and I'm tired."

Rikari walked downstairs wearing his pajamas, yawning.

"That, and I've just taken a bath, so after I eat something, I'm going to bed. I'm not even working on my gunpla tonight. Anyway, I'm not in the mood for Gyuudon at the moment..." Rikari looks in the bags that Riku set down on the counter in the kitchen. "Hey... Riku... You didn't happen to run into Kamiya-kun at the store, did you? Because there aren't any eggs or sweets in either of these bags."  
"Um... yeah. Sorry about that. He kinda ambushed me and was like EATYOURVEGGIES, and whatnot."  
"Understandable. I'll make sure to let him know that the sweets were for me, since I run on them half the time during my all-night gunpla sessions... Also, I'm in need of more Toujinfu after what happened earlier. Masaomi-san, you wouldn't happen to be able to spare about ten of them, would you?"  
"Um, sure."  
Masaomi reaches into his jacket and pulls out ten or so Toujinfu.  
"Where did you get the ones you had previously, though?"  
"Oh, I jacked them from Riku's grandfather. There were only a few left though, and I used them getting the hell out of the way ealier. You know. When you didn't attempt to save me?  
"Er... Well you looked like you were doing fine, and your Shikigami wasn't injured, so I figured he could assist you in leaving."  
"Justifiable. In any case, I'm going to make about half of the remaining eggs in the fridge into hard boiled eggs now, and I'm going to attempt to use toujinfu to do it because I have this feeling that I'm going to need to practice restraint in the amount of chi I pour into these for future use."  
Rikari proceeded to open the fridge and retrieve about five eggs, placed them in a pot, and proceeded to use a Toujinfu card to seal the top and the eggs themselves, and another card to heat the water much quicker than normal.

Five minutes later, Riku and Masaomi are almost done eating, and the eggs are supposedly done.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting this to actually work, but these eggs are supposedly all done now... thanks for the stipend of Toujinfu, Masaomi-san!"  
"Well, that's not what they're supposed to be used for, but I suppose that's one way to use them... Anyway, just as I thought, the limited to fifty per day vaiant of the gyuudon they sell is really the best."  
"Thanks for the meal."  
"I had to line up for thirty minutes to get those, in case you wanted to know."  
"Well, not that my opinion counts or anything, but that's pretty admirable."  
"That reminds me, I have a question for you, Masaomi-san. What exactly are Shikigami and Kogenta? I'd ask grandfather, but he still hasn't worken up yet."  
"You really don't remember anything?"

Rikari flinched. Masaomi and Riku continued their conversation.  
"'What's wrong, Rikari?'"  
"'Sentsa, I think I just realized I was totally right in thinking this guy had ulterior motives, help me seal the area.'"  
"'How?'"  
"'I don't know, think of something...'"  
"Hey guys what are you talking about?"

For a few seconds, Rikari and Sentsa give a deer in the headlights look to Kibachiyo, not knowing how long he had been peeping in on them. Masaomi looked like he was getting ready to leave, too.

"Erm... nothing... Say... Masaomi, it's pretty late, how about you stay here for the night?"  
"Um, no thank-you, I'll be fine..."  
"No, really, I INSIST. I'll even let you use my room if you want."  
"No, really, I'm fine."  
"Sorry, but I'm not giving you that option."  
Rikari proceeded to throw a Toujinfu at the front door, the character for Seal appearing shortly thereafter.  
"I'll take it down in the morning. If I find it's been unsealed then I'm going to be taking the information I want from you by force later on. I'm sure that for Riku's sake, and for the sake of our group that you'll cooperate with me on this for tonight."  
"You've forced my hand. Since neither of us want to fight at the moment, what do you want to know?"  
"Riku, it's probably best if you go upstairs and stay up there for a bit. I don't want you to have bad opinions of either of us for what we might do."  
"Um... Okay...?"

Riku proceeded to go upstairs.

"Well, now that the person that both of us would rather stay sane is out of the way, how about you spill your true motive for being here. If you're upfront about it, I promise not to take any action until you take yours."  
"Well, I'd rather not have anybody find out my plans yet, but since you're bound to your word on this, I might as well tell you. Let's go somewhere else so nobody that may be spying on us can hear it, though."

Masaomi proceeded to pull out a toujinfu and invoke it, the character for teleport popping out. Suddenly the two were in a space that had rice paper walls floating mid-air, and looked like something out of a really good acid trip.

"...My barrier wouldn't have even kept you here, would it have?"  
"Sorry, no."  
"Damn. Anyway, your plot?"  
"Right. My Partner and don't actually belong to either sect of Toujinshi, per-say, but for the time being, we're working with the Heaven style, because the higher ups in the sect I'm actually with want the Heaven-Style Originator on their side."  
"People keep calling him the Heaven-Style Originator. Does contracting a Byakko really mean that much? Because if it did then I may very well actually belong to your sect without knowing it. And that Yuuma person might actually be the Earth-Style Originator. Of course this is all blind guessing on my part, but still. Also, as a sign of good faith, since you're at least acting the part of a sincere person, I won't tell any of this to Riku for the time being. However if you make even a single move to harm him, I WILL hunt you down and force you to join our party, regardless of what side you're on at that point, all relations be damned."  
"Very well. I'll look in on that whole Originator thing back at home. Is it safe to assume that you'll be letting me out, or am I going to have to let myself out?"  
"No. You're still spending the night. I don't want you running off before I notice you're doing so."  
"Fair enough. Do you have anything to keep me occupied, though?"  
"Yes... Well, if you call model kit building occupied. I have a 1:100 Endless Waltz Wing Zero Custom, a 1:144 Gundam DX, a 1:144 Berserk Nobel Gundam and a 1:144 Hi-Nu Gundam. Take your pick."  
"Hmm... I think I'll assemble the Hi-Nu Gundam"  
"Well, at least you have good taste. I need to apply the paint to my Turn A still, so that's what I'm doing tonight... Anyway, can we get out of this rice paper room now?"  
"Oh, sure." 'All according to plan. My cover isn't completely blown, so I can still mold Riku into our pawn for ressurecting Utsuho-sama.'

Masaomi pulled out another toujinfu, another character for teleport appeared, and they were suddenly both back at the table. Rikari then proceeded to show Masaomi up to his room, letting Riku know that it was safe to come out in the process, along with retrieving another futon for Masaomi in the process.

The next day, at school...

"Kamiyaaaaa-kuuuuuuuun"  
"Hmm? What?"  
"Why'd you stop Riku from buying my sweets last niiiiiiiiight?"  
"They're unhealthy. Especially for someone like you. You're practically skin and bones, even if you say you're barely underweight."  
"I practically run off sweets and hard boiled eggs with maybe the occasional pickled raddish and green onion topped sushi tray during my midnight sessions which range from Feng-Shui to building gunpla. I'd REAAAAAALLY appreciate it it you NEVER got between me and my sweets EVER again."

Rikari then proceeded to whisper to him what he would do to him if he did ever get between him and his sweets intentionally again.

"Wow, you're pretty screwed up. But I understand... I think. I won't get in your way again, Satio-kun."  
"Honestly, you don't need any formalities with me after I've said it's okay to just call me Rikari.. I'm perfectly okay with it." 'I hope I've instilled a fear of god in this guy. After denying me sweets, it's the least I can do to ensure he leaves me out of his health nut thing. Seiously, I'm perfectly healthy for my size and weight, even if I'm underweight.'

It was during this little chat that the teacher walked in.

"Everyone, have you decided on your club activities yet? You all have until the weekend to tell me what you've decided on."  
"'FFFFFFFFFFFFF'"  
"'Rikari, are you alright?'"  
"'No. I'm not Sentsa. The teacher just told me that I need to join an after-school club. That's a VERY NOT GOOD THING if I want to get in practice with you after school.'"  
"'Oh. okay.'"

Fastforward to after school. Rikari is out shopping for more gunpla.

"Hmm... What to get, what to get... Oh! I know! I could get a 1:144 Justice, a 1:144 Aegis Gundam and a 1:144 Strike Gundam to compliment my 1:144 Freedom Gundam!"

And so Rikari bought even more Gunpla, and then headed home. Riku was outside and Kogenta was on the roof.

"I'm home Riku. Any specific reason why Kogenta is on the roof?"  
"I was having him look at it to see if it was broken, but he doesn't seem to want to help."  
"Okay. I guess I'll do it instead. Shikigami, Summon!"  
"So how does this envolve me?"  
"I need you do help me get up there."  
"Now you're just being lazy."  
"Says the one that clings to me in his sleep if he's out of his drive at night."  
"How does that even relate to this?"  
"It doesn't. Now help me get up there so I can check the roof."  
"Sigh... Fine."

And so Rikari checked the roof while Riku was cleaning up the front lawn.

"Well, I didn't find any holes or anything, but some of the shingles were loose so I put them back in place."  
"That's good. I'm heading up to the shrine now. Want to come along?"  
"Sure."

And so the party headed up to the shrine.

"Wow. This place is a mess, isn't it Riku?"  
"It's probably best that we get it fixed up as soon as possible."

Yuuma's voice suddenly comes from behind.

"Is this the Heaven-Style Kimon?"  
Riku flinches as he turns around. Rikari freezes up for a moment before turning around, too.  
"Oh fuck, it's him. Riku, we're probably about to get into a fight."  
"I see. So this would be where the Earth-Style uses gathered."  
"You're the one with the Byakko Shikigami..."  
"Who was the one that helped you two earlier?"  
"Is he the Heaven-Style Originator?"  
"That's... Um..."  
"Let's make a deal. You tell me, and I'll let you both go for now."  
"Stop it, Nii-san!"

A kid who looks a little bit similar to Yuuma runs in between the Heaven-Style toujinshi and Yuuma, pointing his drive at Yuuma.

"Souma!"  
"Nii-San, stop listening to that damned Mikazuchi's orders!"  
"Souma, do you have any clue what you're doing right now?"  
"If you keep listening to that scum... I'll fight you myself, Nii-san!"  
"So you do have a clue..."  
Yuuma pulls out his drive while showing signs of feeling betrayed.  
"Then as you wish, I'll fight you head on, along with both of those puny Toujinshi behind you, too!"  
"No way!"  
'Riku is clearly not in denial about how strong Rangetsu is'

And then Masaomi's voice comes from behind.

"Aren't I the one you wanted to speak to?"

Spotting an opening, Rikari has an idea.  
'Here's a good chance to abuse my knowledge and bend the truth a bit to get rid of him for the time being!' "Yes, Yuuma, the man behind us is totally the Heaven-Style Originator. Go bug him instead of us."  
"Eh?"

Masaomi flinches as Rikari outright lies to Yuuma about who the Heaven-Style Originator is.

'Not according to keiaku. Note to self. Punish Rikari later.' "I suppose I am. We should probably take this chat somewhere else now, however."

Masaomi and Yuuma then proceed to leave the area. And with a crisis successfully averted, Rikari lets out a sigh of relief.

"Whew, That was close. So, what are we going to do with Souma here, Riku?"  
"He's comming to stay with us, clearly."  
"You told him that while I was creating a diversion, didn't you. I mean we both know that he's not ACTUALLY the Originator, but I figured I'd use him as bait since his Shikigami seems to have speed on his side."

Suddenly another voice comes from down the path.

"Who would have thought that I would meet not only two Heaven-Style Toujinshi, but also a betrayer of the Earth-Style as well."

Riku and Souma flinch. Rikari subtly grabs his Drive out it's case.

"So this is the reason that Mikazuchi-sama told me to stick to Yuuma, huh?"

The stranger pulls out a Drive.

"Dissappear."  
"These guys just keep comming... Say, why do we have to fight? If the Kimon opens, demons will come out!"

Souma flinches.

"If we fight, if the Shikigami die, and then demons show up, who's going to get rid of them? If that time comes, shouldn't we be cooperating?"  
"Shut up!"

Riku flinches.

"I knew it was pointless... Anyway, you're not involved in this, so could you maybe step aside for now?"  
"O-Okay."

Meanwhile, Rikari is becoming more and more agitated at how the Earth-Style Toujinshi in front of them is being a dick to them. Just as Riku is about to summon Kogenta, Rikari stops him and starts yelling at the enemy Toujinshi.

"Can't you tell that there's a person here that just had his world fractured? Why don't you shut up and leave, you dick! Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue abbreviated flashy summon sequence here.

"Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!"  
"My my, you're an eager one."  
"No, not really. I'm just pissed off that almost EVERYBODY in the Earth-Style doesn't have a shread of humanity left in them, and they keep comming after us. Regardless, summon your shikigami already so I can kick your ass and we can all go home."  
"Shikigami Summon!"

Cue mook summon sequence.

"Hanmo no Masurao! Kenzan!"  
"[Shin!-Ri!-Da!]"

Sentsa's sword came fourth.

"You're in a bad mood, aren't you?"  
"That doesn't even begin to cover it. Let's just get this over with so I can go and attempt to help Souma-kun feel a little better about what just happened."

The ensuing battle is very one-sided. It ends with Masarao's name being sliced in two before disintegrating, and the enemy toujinshi wandering off.

"Man, are these guys even trying anymore? Seriously, I expected this one to at least put up a fight..."

Rikari sighed.

"Kogenta, I think we're on the same page today. Anyway, let's all go back to the house now. That includes you, too."

Souma flinches.

"I'm not a kid, you know!"  
"I never said you were."

Souma blushes.

The party heads back to the house. A little later, they head to the store.

At the store...

"At last, I have more sweets!"  
"Hmm? Did you say something Rikari?"  
"Oh, right. You're not familiar with the situation yet, Souma-kun. I got in an argument with one of Riku and my classmates this morning over denying me sweets indirectly when Riku was out shopping last night."

Rikari promptly ate one of the pieces of lemon candy that he'd bought when they first entered the store.

"You want some? I bought enough to share with a few people if need be."

Rikari offered some of it to Souma.

"No thanks, I'm good for now."  
"If you say so. Just don't touch it without asking first, or I'll have to... Punish you."  
"For some reason, I'm very much inclined to not want to know what that entails, so I'll do as you say."  
"Good boy. Now then, it's about time to go check out, so let's head up front and meet up with Riku."

So they bought Souma some snacks and went home.

On the way, they ran into Ryuji.

"What are you doing with that? What did I say about vegetables?"  
"Oh for fu-"

Riku places a hand on Rikari's shoulder.

"Rikari, are you sure you're okay? You've been nothing but agressive all day."  
"Yes Riku, I'm fine. My blood sugar was a bit low earlier, so it was justifiable. I'm just irritated with this guy still."  
"Wait, why didn't you tell me you were diabetic earlier though?"  
"I'm not. I'm hypoglycemic. I just get low blood sugar occasionally."  
"Oh. Okay. Now I feel bad about denying you sweets."  
"Good. Now go away before I do something that we'd both regret to you."  
"Eep! Okay!"

And so Rikari scared Ryuji off with a bluff. The party then went inside and ate dinner.

TO BE CONTINUED


	8. Side chapter 3

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, and many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

After a long day, Rikari finally had a chance to relax in the bath. He had let Sentsa out of his drive again to join him.

"I still don't see a real point in doing this."  
"It's relaxing. Anyway, I can't believe Ryuji fell for that same bluff twice in the same day. Hahaha!"  
"I really don't think that was the right thing to do. You know my feelings on lying."  
"I have to do that sometimes to avoid further complications. It's probably best if you don't think to hard about why I do it."  
"If you say so..."

After his bath with Sentsa, Rikari retired to his room and started on the 1:100 Wing Zero Custom (EW) kit before going to bed. He also realized how much he missed having sweets around before after having them while working again. Life was good. And yet something felt off.

-Another irregularity has presented itself in this continuum shift-

-Today marks the start the Onmyou Bond arc-

-What will happen? Nobody is certain. All will become clear in due time-


	9. Chapter 6

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

It's a regular morning at school for once. Save for Ryuji being late. That, and Rikari and Riku both haven't even touched their club forms yet.

And then lunch happens. Rina drags Riku up to the roof and appearntly does something to piss Kogenta off by accident. Momo exibits more Tsundere tendancies.

Back at the classroom just after class...

"Hey! you can't just keep evading fights! We need to train!"  
"Alright, but how?"  
"If it's about your attitude, you have to train, of course! I mean, there has to be a Heaven-Style training area somwhere..."  
"Speaking of training areas... Kogenta, do you know where I can get more Toujinfu?"  
"You SHOULD be able to get some from a Heaven-Style training area."  
"Great. Now how are we going to find one?"  
"Beats me. Maybe you should ask Masaomi."  
"Sounds like a plan. Riku, do whatever you do to summon that man and I'm sure we can grill the information out of him."  
"Ehehe, I'm sure he'd just tell us if we asked."  
"I guess you have a point."

Rikari and Riku then proceed to leave school for the day only to find Masaomi up at the gate with a Highschool student. The unknown male has blonde hair and blue eyes, but otherwise, looks relatively normal.

"Hey Riku, I know when I said do what you do, but what exactly DID you do to summon him?"  
"I didn't. This was a coincidence."

Walking closer, Masaomi waves to them, signaling for them to come over.

"Ah, Riku and Rikari. Just the people I was looking for. This is Tomas. He's a Toujinshi of the Heaven-Style, just like you guys."  
"It's a pleasure to meet you."  
"Same."  
"Um, why are you introducing us to another person Masaomi?"  
"Because I can."  
'Bullshit. You have motives. Not that I care, we get another ally.' "Oh, that's right. We need to find a Heaven-Style training area nearby. Do you know where one is Masaomi?"  
"I was about to say that there is one in a cave by the beach by the river."  
"Sweet. Can I get more Toujinfu there?"  
"Yes."  
"This is quickly becoming the best day I've had in a while. Anyway, let's get moving!"

Boys are moving...

Later, at said cave...

"Erm, there's nothing here."  
"WRONG. Hold out your drives."

And so the party of three did. Suddenly the wall turned into a yin-yang symbol and opened up. Inside was a surpisingly well lit room, and there was a hole in the wall with a magic circle on the bottom of it. Three stacks of Toujinfu then materialized on the circle.

"Hell. Yes."

It was clear that Rikari was about to have a field day to everyone in the room. Rikari then pulled out his drive.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue flashy summoning scene.

"Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!"  
"Alright time to test these out. You said there would be dummy youkai here earlier, right Sentsa?"  
"I did. I'll start them up now."

And then suddenly there were youkai everywhere. Rikari started flinging bomb character cards like it was nobody's business.

"EXPLODE. ALL OF YOU."  
"Would you mind giving me my sword?"  
"AHAHAHA-Uh, sure. [Shin!-Ri!-Da!]"

And with that everyone assumed practice positions. Tomas summoned his Shikigami (Souka no Onishiba), too.

Eventually, Rikari and Riku got into a practice match, Kogenta and Sentsa locking blades for a period of thirty or so minutes before a draw was called. And it was only called because Rikari felt he was running a little low on Chi.

"Damn Riku, how much Chi do you even have?"  
"I'm not sure. More than you, though."

Something was extremely wrong today. Rikari could almost feel it.

"And this is why I'm not the Heaven-Style Originator. I'm nothing more than a low ranking toujinshi who got lucky and contracted a Byakko..."  
"Woah, that was a little dark there Rikari. Is something wrong?"  
"'Yes, but keep it down Riku. I've had this gut feeling all day that something is seriously wrong with the world. I think something bad is about to happen. Even if we were to get ambushed by an Earth-Style toujinshi, I think that would still be the least of our problems.'"

And then the wall broke and an Earth-Style Toujinshi stepped in with his Shikigami.

"Speak of the devil and he shall come."  
"Not the time Kogenta. Anyway Riku, I'm going to leave this guy to you. Try not to wreck the place."  
"Okay. Kogenta, Let's do this!"

And so Kogenta proceeded to wreck the enemy Shikigami. Which was a dog-type in case you were curious.

Later, on the way home...

"Wow, today was pretty exciting."  
"I'll say. Too bad the training area was wrecked because SOMEBODY doesn't believe in restraint, unlike his toujinshi.  
"Hey now Rikari, It wasn't entirely Kogenta's fault..."  
"Yeah, the enemy did just as much damage as I did."  
"Nobody asked your opinion, Kogenta. You know that I don't agree with you most of the time due to the fact that I see you as a child."  
"W-W-Why you! Riku! Summon me right now!"  
"Huh? Why?"  
"Because he wants to challenge me to another fight. But I think I'll pass. I don't think my Chi is back at full yet after all those Toujinfu I threw at the [strike]target practice dummies[/strike] dummy youkai. I DID pass out for a little bit back there if you remember."

Suddenly, a noise is heard from Rikari's pockets.

~Mihatenu yume wo oikakeru kimi to naraba ikerusa~ ~Ano niji no mukou ni~

Rikari flinches. The others give him a prying stare.

"Oh, wow. When did I set that as my ringtone? That must be Fubari-tan or Fain-chan sending me an email."  
"Oh? Who are they?"  
"Friends that live in my home town. I've been telling them what's been happening day-by-day, and so far they seem to think that I've been playing some kind of new online game. I'm thinking of paying them a visit one of these days and showing them what I really meant."  
"Ehehe, you probably shouldn't get normal people envolved, Rikari."  
"But Riku... They're really cool. I mean, Fubari's practically a NEET and Fain is a total gamer girl, so the whole online game thing is to be expected as a reponse... I mean they didn't ask me where to sign up or anything... Yet. And if they do, what would I even be able to say? I mean hopefully they wouldn't end up under the earth-style... Maybe I should term it as a guild so that they know not to join up with them."  
"Everything you just said went over my head."  
"I got about fifty percent of it."  
"Ragnarok Online?"  
"Ragnarok Online."  
"Sweet. I didn't have you down as the type to have played online games, Tomas."  
"I took a look at it before it got wrecked by hackers. What can I say?"  
"Same."  
"Anyway, we should probably get going. See you tomarrow."

At which point Rikari and Riku split up from Tomas for the evening. Rikari ended up sending an email that said something along the lines of 'Don't join a guild that is named either Chi-Ryu, or Earth-Style. They are all pricks and want to pick fights with the Ten-Ryu/Heaven-Style guild, who doesn't pick fights with them, and I'm a member of the Heaven-Style guild anyway. Talk to you guys more soon!'.

The next day, at school, Riku, Rikari, Momo, Rina, and Ryuji ended up in the Rowing club.

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF"  
"Oh calm down, it's not the end of the world Rikari. At least we MAY still be able to travel during our days off."  
"It's just that I meant to check on the model building club."  
"Erm... we don't have one. Gunpla aren't exactly big for most of the kids our age in town."  
"well that's just DANDY."

Later, after school, in the teacher's lounge.

"Oh, you found the location in the map in Riku's book?"  
"Yep, but the bad news is it's in a difficult to get to place."  
"No problem. Riku and I are a good team."  
"No, I mean it's dangerous."  
"Oh for..."  
"Erm, Rikari, how about we all go?"  
"Eh?"  
"The she means as the rowing club."  
"I guess that would work."  
"Very well then. Let's make this our first excursion as the rowing club!"

And with that, the meeting adjourned. Rikari and Riku headed to the gate to find Tomas waiting out there for them.

"What took you guys so long?"  
"We got assigned to a club about boats. Specifically competative rowing."  
"Sucks. Anyway, what are we going to do today for training? We don't really have a place to go train at the moment due to the fact that it kinda got ruined yesterday by an Earth-Style crashing our party."  
"At least I have a lot more Toujinfu now. That cave practically had a dispenser for them in it till it got wrecked..."  
"I guess that means we won't really have a reason to meet up for a bit, then. How about you and I exchange email adresses, Rikari?"  
"Um, sure. I don't think Riku has a phone, but I think if at least one of us has access to a way to contact the others then we're all a little better off.

And so Rikari exchanged email addresses with Tomas.

"Anyway, see you later."

Tomas walked off. Rikari and Riku walked home.

* * *

Subchapter: Chapter 6.5

The next day...

"Oh boy. Today's going to be fun."  
"Really now, Rikari. We may find one of my In today too. They seem to pop up near Kogenta's In."  
"We better be back in time to watch Dekaranger... And hopefully Gundam SEED Destiny."  
"Um what?"  
"The first is a TV show that airs on sunday mornings, Sentsa. Something you're probably not familiar with. The second one is an animated cartoon that airs on saturday nights. Maybe I'll get to see it if I'm lucky."  
"Sounds legit."  
"Wow, you still watch Super Sentai shows, Rikari?"  
"Yes Souma. Call me as childish as you want, I regret nothing. Wait, you don't?"  
"I never said that. Anyway, when do you think Riku is getting up?"  
"No clue."  
"Oh well." 'Now's a good chance for me to get to know Souma a little better. Better take it.' "Oh, that reminds me, Souma, you never talk about anybody in your family besides your brother. Did something happen to your Mom and Dad?"  
"Um... Yes."  
"It must have been hard dealing with it. Mine vanished right out from under me. I mean my grandparents eventually found them, but they had forgotten all about me and about eachother. It was as if the ten years they had been married hadn't even happened. I was five at the time."  
"That sounds an awful lot like what happened to my mother, only minus all the toujinshi stuff going on. This really is a family affair."  
"Which you've still yet to say anything about. Although I've been taking center stage, so I guess I'll hand it over now."  
"Well, the short version is that Mikazuchi killed my father and erased my mother's shikigami."  
"So... does that mean your mother forgot about you?"  
"Yes... I miss having my family around, honestly."

At some point, Souma had gone from sitting at the table to wrapping his arms around his legs.

"I know that feeling all too well. I mean, I had good friends that let me stay with them, their parents were good friends with my parents, so they were practially family, too. I was still pretty shaken and didn't go to school for a month. It's honestly a miracle that I'm still stable today. But to imagine that you had to go through it at a younger age along with dealing with the duties of being a Toujinshi... I'dve probably lost it."

Rikari's chat with Souma went on for a bit, then Riku finally got up.

"By the way Souma. If you hear my ringtone go off at some point, note the lyrics. They seem to keep changing, but they're all from the same song."  
"Um, okay."

~Omoi egaiteru mirai he~

"Speak of the devil. I think that's probably Fubari on the topic of one of the anime that's airing later today."  
"Why did that line feel familiar?"  
"Not sure."  
"Anyway, I guess once we've eaten breakfast, Riku and I'll be heading out."  
"Okay."

And so Riku came downstairs. Conversations were had, and then they left towards the agreed upon meeting spot for transit to the lake.

Subchapter 6.5 end.

* * *

"Wow. That's a lot of boats."  
"Swan boats..."  
'Did Ryuji just... Okay I'm starting to have doubts in his heterosexuality.'

Riku is looking at the book he has. Kogenta manifests in his translucent form out of the Drive. Rikari is attempting to peak over Riku's shoulder as he looks at it.

"Is this really the place the map indicated? Isn't it just a lake?"  
"It looks pretty flooded to me if it used to be."  
"This was probably mapped before the dam was built."  
"Well, it's certianly old enough."  
"Oh, but that mountain's large trees and valley over there look just like the ones in the map."  
"So where's the actual In?"  
"Probably at the bottom of the lake. If we could get high enough Kogenta could probably use more of his drive magic to make weird stuff happen so you could get his In for him."

"What? No comment?"  
"You've pretty much hit the nail on the head."  
"Okay. I guess that settles it. First toujinshi over to that hill over there" Rikari pauses for a moment to indicate a hill on the other side of the lake "Wins. There is no penatly for losing, other than no bragging rights. Oh, and I'm not rowing with anybody from the club, so..." Rikari pulled out his Drive. "Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue abbreviated summon sequence.

"Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!"  
"Good. Now that you're out you can row with me. We can pass you off as a cosplayer again."  
"I really must protest to this!"  
"Too bad. I'm not losing. I'll do something nice for you later to make up for this."  
"Fine. I surrender."

And so Rikari and Sentsa made their way across the lake. Riku and Ryuji made their way across eventually.

"Wow. Ryuji really kept him busy for a bit didn't he, Sentsa?"  
"I guess. We've been up here for at least five minutes now. I do have to admit, there is a nice view from up here."

After a little bit, Riku came walking up the steps to the top of the hill.

"You guys are just too fast for me..."  
"Nonsense. You had to deal with Ryuji. I cheated a little."  
"Sorry to ruin the moment, but Riku, could you hold out your drive already?"  
"Um... Sure."

Suddenly glowing drive magic. Suddenly Glowing pathway. Suddenly new In.

"So, when do you think that In wil-"

Suddenly loud noise and red pillar from nearby.

"I guess today. Wanna see who can bust this Earth-Style guy faster?"  
"I'd rather not turn this into a competition..."  
"If you say so. Anyway, let's go check that noise out."

Boys are in transit...

Later, at the nearby village where the pillar came from...

"Hey, maybe that little girl might know something. Let's go ask her Riku."  
"Okay, sounds like a plan."

So Riku walked up to the little girl that the party has encountered, and a quest was started.

Later, at the Kimon in the forest nearby...

"Stop right there you fiend!"

Surprisingly, that had come from Riku, instead of Rikari, who, as of late, had been leeching off of Riku's fire.

'Wow Riku, way to step up and be a man. I'm totally rewarding you for this later!'

A fight ensued between an Earth-Style beetle shikigami user and the party. Flashy summon sequences were had and a contract was erased. Riku also figured out how to use the new In he'd found. All in all, it was a productive fight. Rikari also threw a fit after Riku got called useless by the opponent.

One pleasant walk back to the lake later...

'Well, now only the teacher isn't in on our whole thing. That and Riku appears to have gained another level on his Style Ranker. Meanwhile mine's still stuck at two.'

And then the party went home.

TO BE CONTINUED


	10. Chapter 7

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

After arriving home with Riku from the boating trip turned desparate battle for control over a Kimon, Rikari found that he still had time before Gundam Seed Destiny aired this week, however, Souma was not home.

"Where could that boy have gone off to? Oh well, time for more Gundam SEED Destiny! I wonder what that dastardly Shin could be up to this week? How will our hero Kira foil him this time?"

And so Rikari watched Gundam SEED Destiny on the old TV that was set up in the front room of the apartment complex. Eventually, Souma showed up. Riku had managed to screw up dinner in the process of making it, too.

"Riku, what did you do to the fish?"  
"Erm... Oh look! Souma's home!"  
"Oh, there you are, Souma. You almost missed GSD for the week."  
"I like how you think I care."  
"I like how you think I'm not going to force it down your throat every week 'till you like it."  
"Can we please eat dinner now?"  
"Not hungry."  
"Erm... I think I'll just have some boiled eggs with surumi rolls."  
"I definitely made too much..."  
"It's fine, Riku. I can attempt to salvage this for lunch tomarrow."

Suddenly rowing club meeting in the middle of the evening. Cue more Souma brooding. Cue Rikari chasing after him because he is worried, apologizing for not being able to try some of Ryuji's cooking before leaving.

Eventually, at the train station.

Souma clenches his fist, the last of his pocket money in his hand. He curses his rather poor choices from the last few days. That's when Rikari comes up from behind.

"Souma, where exactly do you think you're going?"  
"I-I don't know. Nobody in our group seems to be relatively useful, Riku's not the Heaven-Style Orignator, h-"  
"Actually, I'm probably stabbing myself in the foot saying this, but he is. I have somebody that can pretty much confirm it. Or at least, I'd like to think he was telling the truth. But you can't tell Riku that I said ANY of this, or else I'm probably going to have to fight a really good friend of ours, and probably lose."

At some point, Fusanoshin materialized from Souma's Drive.

"I can also testify that I felt something from Riku. And no matter how you look at it, he has Byakko no Kogenta."  
"Why are you still talking about that?"  
"Because. Fusanoshin has a point. He's been around since almost literally forever."  
"Fine, fine. I surrender. Take me to the shrine near the house for now. I need to think..." 'And possibly brood a little more.'

And so the party of Rikari and Souma headed up to the shrine. Souma had a character development moment where he brooded a little more while asking the last picture that was taken of his family while they all still lived together to bring back his happy times together with eachother. Rikari stood nearby, trying to pull the sleeves out of his vest, which he eventually did.

Eventually, a voice rang out.

"So, the Betrayer of the Earth-Style's here? And a Heaven-Style user?"

Souma gasped and Rikari flinched, turning around quickly while attempting to put his jacket back on.

"I just don't understand. Why is it that children of traitors, such as you, can receive Mikazuchi-sama's favor?"

Souma sprung to his feet.

"Kirihito! Dad was not a traitor!"  
"Just because you have a contract with a rather powerful Shikigami, don't get cocky!"  
"Oh, so does that mean that I CAN?"  
"Oh? Who are you?"  
"I'm Rikari Satio. The Heaven-Style Toujinshi that's going to kick your ass for antagonizing my friend."  
"Rikari, could you let me fight him instead?"  
"Fine, Souma. But let it be known that if I even see the remote possiblility of you losing and Riku hasn't shown up yet, I WILL flat out break this guy."  
"Fine. Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue flashy, but not as flashy as it should be summon sequence.

"Ikazuchi no Fusanoshin! Kenzan!"  
"Hmph. You're both weaklings. Shikigami Summon!"

Cue mook summon sequence.

"Uzumibi no Mingobee! Kenzan!"

Cue Fusanoshin getting his ass handed to him, landing on the ground, his name briefly emerging from his body, almost giving Rikari a heart attack before going back in, and Riku showing up JUST before Rikari loses it.

"It took you way too damn long to get here Riku!"  
"Sorry I'm late!"  
"Tell that to Souma! He almost lost Fusanoshin just now!"

Rikari is almost to the point of tears. Souma's already crying a little.

"Anyway..."

Riku steps between the enemy toujinshi and Souma.

"This fight is useless. You two are comrades, right?"  
"Who the hell are you?"  
"Um... I'm, uh... The landlord for the house that Souma-kun is currently freeloading in... Wait, that's not right! I'm Riku Tachibana, the Heaven-Style Toujinshi that's going to kick your ass!"

Riku drew his Drive.

"Shikigami! Su-"

Rikari placed a hand on it just as he was about to summon Kogenta.

"Riku, I have a score to settle with this guy. Do you mind if I fight him solo?"  
"Um, sure, I guess."  
"Cool."  
"I don't suppose I get a say in this do I?"  
"No, Fusanoshin. If you had HP, you'd be in critical right now. Now then... Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue flashy summon sequence.

"Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!"  
"Good. Now, since we've already established Fusanoshin and Souma as allies, that means that we're fighting that bastard over there and his flaming, festival obsessed, frilly-assed Flamingo Shikigami."  
"Wow, you're really in a bad mood, huh?"  
"Damn straight. Let's end this quickly."

Cue curbstomp battle. It ends when Sentsa delivers a Furumunkikkudansu straight to the Flamingo Shikigami's face, followed up by a slice down the center from the Setsumaru. The characters for Mingobee appear, split right down the center, and disintegrate.

"Now then. Souma."

Rikari turned around to Souma.

"Everything that man said was a falsehood. You're a picky eater, have very poor manners, and keep running away, but you are by NO MEANS the type of person to backstab anyone. Now snap the HELL out of whatever the FUCK you're dealing with and get over it. I KNOW you're better than this."  
"Wow, such vulgar words from a child your age. Also, what's up with YOU of all people stealing my moment with Riku?"  
"Kogenta. I'm pissed off. Of course I'm going to use a different set of words and steal your fire. As for you Souma, you have a few things to say to Riku."

So more character development happened, and Souma officially joined the party. After that, the three Toujinshi went back to Riku's house and ate some of the leftovers from what Ryuji made earlier. Rikari and Riku went upstairs to do math homework afterwords, and then Kogenta dragged Riku off to the shrine shortly into it. A little later, Riku came back crying and put his Drive in the freezer, much to the confusion of Rikari and Souma. At some point, Masaomi showed up, then he, Souma and Riku had a meal while Rikari went upstairs to find that his Impulse Gundam was on his Futon, very much still unassembled with a note attached. After a little bit, Rikari went downstairs to antagonize Kogenta. Approaching the freezer, Rikari muttered a bit to himself.

"Geez, what's gotten into Riku?"  
"Kogenta probably taught him the Hyakki Messuigeki In, in a way that hit all of Riku's buttons at once."  
"Better go rescue Kogenta, I guess."

Upon opening the freezer, Rikari was greeted by a translucent Kogenta, looking as if he was actually affected by the cold freezer.

"So, are you ready to admit defeat?"  
"What are you talking about?"  
"You're being arrogant and selfish again. This time you set Riku off."  
"So that's why he put me in here? All I did was teach him a new In."  
"Yes Kogenta. And you most likely made him paranoid and scared."  
"Sentsa, I couldn't have put it better myself. Regardless, I'm offering to let you stay in my drive till Riku cools off, if that's possible."  
"Theoretically, I guess it is."  
"Good. Now, do you promise to apologize to Riku as soon as he cools off? I'll shove you back in the freezer if you don't."  
"Fine, fine, I'll do it. Just don't put me back in there!"

And so Rikari grabbed Riku's drive, placed the red part of it against his drive, and the characters for Kogenta flashed on Rikari's drive. Rikari then proceeded to take Riku's drive upstairs and place it in it's holder, attaching it to Riku's bag. Riku was still eating at the time, so nobody noticed him do it, either.

* * *

Sub-Chapter 7.1

The following morning...

"Souma, I know you're awake."  
"What is it, Rikari?"  
"I want you to promise me that you won't leave again without telling us where you're going, at the very least."  
"... Fine."  
"Good. Now, Riku and I have school. I want you to stay here and watch over the house. I bought a 1:144 Impulse Gundam just for you last night just in case you're into building Gunpla to keep you busy, too. Also, don't tell Riku that I have Kogenta in my Drive. I'm borrowing him till after school, where I'm going to attempt to help him apologize to Riku as a show of good faith."  
"My lips are sealed."

After a little bit, Riku came downstairs, exibiting signs of slight agitation and confusion at his Drive being attached to his school bag, but Kogenta not comming out of it when called for.

Fast forward past school, Rikari is now at home with Souma. Riku staying after school to study.

"So, did anything intresting happen while I was away, Souma?"  
"Not really. Although I did end up going out for a bit to get lunch and buy the monthly V-Jump. There's something that might intrest you in it, by the way. There's a comic in it called Onmyou Taisenki, and Kogenta appears to be a main character."  
"Probably just a coincidence."  
"I guess. The other main character in it is named Yakumo. So far, it also seems that Rangetsu, my brother's Shikigami is an antagonist, too."  
"Oh, really?"  
"And that there's time travel envolved."  
"Okay, I'll read it later. Has it progressed enough to have any volumes?"  
"Yes, actually. The first volume was for sale at the store."  
"Good to know. Could you pick it up for me tomarrow? I'll give you some money to do it with."  
"Sure."

Subchapter 7.1 End.

* * *

Shortly thereafter, Riku came in, asking Rikari and Souma if they'd seen Kogenta anywhere.

"Erm... Yes. I took him out of your drive after you shoved him in the freezer last night in a last ditch resort to teach him some manners."  
"What."  
"Okay Kogenta, come on out."

Kogenta slowly materialized.

"Um... Hi Riku. Listen, I'm REALLY sorry about yesterday. It was REALLY wrong of me to make light of the Hyakki Messuigeki like that. Would you please let me come back in your Drive now?"

Riku almost started crying, but then he forced back his tears.

'Thank you, Rikari. Even though I went as far as to attempt to punish Kogenta, you somehow managed to get him to see my point.' Riku choked back more tears, sniffling in the process "Sure thing Kogenta. Glad we could come to this understanding."

At which point Riku pulled out his Drive and linked it up with Rikari's, Kogenta's name appearing on Riku's Drive once more.

"Glad to be home, partner..."  
"Oh, that reminds me."

Riku pulled out a piece of paper.

"I found this on the way home."

After reading it, Rikari handed it back to Riku.

-Byakko user, I'll be waiting for you above.  
-Earth.

"So, which one of us is it refering to?"  
"No clue."  
"So, we both bumrush him and take him out?"  
"Sounds like a plan. To the shrine we go."

So the pair went to the shrine, leaving Souma to watch the house.

Later, at the entrance to the shrine...

"Okay Riku, you go first, and I'll join in after a little bit if it looks like you need help."  
"Gotcha."

Riku proceeded to approach the Earth-Style Toujinshi that was standing in the shrine area.

"I'm here! I'm the Heaven-Style Byakko user! Did you come here to defeat us?"  
"This doesn't have anything to do with you, Obocchan. The one I have business with is your Shikigami. I'll get a special bonus if I defeat him. Also, where is the other Byakko user that likes to lurk around town?"

Hearing that, Rikari hopped down from a nearby tree.

"That would be me. Sorry, but if you're offering to pay us off in exchange for killing our Shikigami, that's not going to fly."  
"Oh well. Shikigami Summon!"

Cue mook summon sequence.

"Kurogane no Fuji! Kenzan!"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue double flashy summon sequence.

"Byakko no Kogenta! Kenzan!"  
"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"  
"Alright let's roll."  
"Kogenta, don't you dare lose today!"

Turning around, Kogenta notices the opponent Shikigami.

"Oh. It's just Kurogane no Fuji."  
"It's been a while."

Cue stalemate battle.

Suddenly smokescreen toujinfu.  
Suddenly Riku plays his trap card, which the opponent has just triggered.  
Suddenly Fire elemental field.  
The opponent fled!  
Sentsa gained 5 EXP! Kogenta gained 5 EXP!

"Did the enemy Toujinshi... just... flee?"  
"Yep."  
"What. The. Hell. At any rate, he's gone for now. Also, you were really agressive today Riku. Is there a reason for that?"  
"Sorry. I guess I was stressed over not wanting to lose Kogenta."

Kogenta flinches, then walks over to Riku, hugging him.

"Sorry for worrying you, Riku."

Riku begins to cry. At first, attempting to choke his tears, then just plain letting it all out. After that, the party goes home.

* * *

Sub-Chapter 7.3

Later that night...

"Well, I'm glad we were able to avert a potential disaster this evening. It's too bad we weren't able to get another kill."  
"Yeah. I really wanted to beat him."

Kogenta still hadn't gone back in Riku's drive yet. Riku had since fallen asleep, having still been crying a little when they got home. Souma was a little confused, but Rikari handwaved it.

"Anyway, why aren't you in your drive in Riku's room?"  
"Because I wanted to thank you for helping me out yesterday, and by extension, today."  
"My, my, what brought about this change?"  
"The fact that Riku shoved me in the freeze and cried like a baby three times in the span of twenty-four hours."  
"You're welcome, then. Now, I need to get to bed, so you should probably go join Riku. You may just want to join him in bed instead of going back in the Drive. It might mean something to him."  
"Okay. I'll try that."  
'Phase one of pairing Riku with Kogenta is go. All according to Keiaku.'

End Sub-Chapter 7.3 -

* * *

The next day at school...

"Aw man, I'm doing terrible at math."  
"You really should have studied, Riku. I got a 100%. I'll tutor you if you want later."

Suddenly the homeroom teacher came barging in.

"Tachibana-kun! Your grandfather has... Hurry up and get to the hospital!"

Riku gasped. Rikari flinched.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Also, no, this isn't turning into slash fiction yet. Rikari IS however, attempting to set it up for much later. Just to confirm, if it happens, it will be POST-Onmyou Taisenki anime plot.


	11. Chapter 8

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

After being told to go to the hospital, Riku quickly hurried over, with Rikari in tow because he refused to stay at school. Shortly thereafter, Riku was told to go to the Taihaku Shrine over in Kyoto. The party returned to the house one passed out old man later and began to pack, Rikari refusing to leave Riku alone for even a moment.

Later, on the Train, after some self doubting from Riku and a pep-talk from Kogenta...

"Say, Riku. We left without packing any food."  
"Yep. We should probably eat before we go to the shrine."  
'Watch as we run into Masaomi.'

Later, post train ride...

Riku is looking at the map of Kyoto. Rikari is peering over his left shoulder while Kogenta peers over his right shoulder and Sentsa leans over his head.

"We've just gotten off the train and we're already lost, aren't we."  
"Yep."

Suddenly, a voice comes from over head.

"Hey! Up here!"  
"Masaomi-san?"  
"Called it."  
"Hey! Rikkun!"

One boxed tofu lunch and eel rice lunch in the park later...

"Well, I'm going to get going now."  
"Bye Masaomi-san!"  
"So... How are we going to find the Taihaku Shrine, Riku? Good question."

One search of the town later...

"H-Hey! I think I know where to go!"  
'That's a bit of a surprise, comming from Kogenta. Maybe there was some truth in that manga that Souma found.'

Eventually, Riku and Rikari find the Taihaku Shrine... In ruins.

"Wow, they've really let this place go... I wonder if it got attacked."

Suddenly, Riku hits his shin up against some metal. Rikari looks at it.

"Oh hey. If that says what I think it does, then we're in luck and they've just migrated."

One walk to the New Taihaku Shrine later...

"Hey, that was another barrier."  
"I noticed it too."

Suddenly, Miko-loli. Suddenly, she's everywhere at once.

"Okay Miko-loli, we're both Heaven-Style Byakko-type Toujinshi, and I'm pretty sure he's the Heaven-Style Originator."  
"Wow, you're awfully upfront. I guess there's a place I should be showing him then..."  
"I'm comming too. No acceptions."

One trip to the burnt down village out back later...

"And all that was left is this tree that isn't dead."  
"Hey Riku, there's something suspicious about this tree. Go check inside it."  
"Erm... Okay..."

Riku proceeds to attempt to get inside the tree, but nothing happens when he's looking inside.

"Sigh... Here I was hoping he'd find something cool."

One trip back later...

"Hey Nazuna-chan, do you have any food?"  
"Erm, sure. I'll go make us a meal. You two should probably stay here tonight, too."

* * *

Sub-chapter 8.5 Start

One meal later, Riku's gone to bed, but Rikari is still up, Nazuna sitting in the room.

"So... What did you expect our supposed Originator to find in the tree?"  
"Dunno. I figured he'd be able to find something that might help us. Say... Was there anything at the old Taihaku Shrine?"  
"We have a Time Travel Mirror, but that's not to be used ever."  
"Okay. I guess that manga is pretty much based on true events."  
"Huh? What manga?"  
"There's a manga going on right now called Onmyou Taisenki. It chronicles the story of a boy named Yakumo and his Shikigami, who is ironically named Byakko no Kogenta, as they fight against an evil Toujinshi who is in the process of fusing himself with a Shikigami by the name of Byakko no Rangetsu. I thought it was coincidental at one point, but I guess it wasn't."  
"That's because it did happen. Yakumo is investigating the Fukumaden right now. Honestly, I'd say he's the most fit to be the Heaven-Style Originator."  
"I've had two other people tell me otherwise, on at least five separate occasions."  
"I can see this conversation is going nowhere. I'm retiring for the night."  
"I guess I'll go to bed too."

And so Rikari went to bed.

Sub-chapter 8.5 End.

* * *

The next morning...

"Hey, Rikari. I have something I want to teach you. It's the strongest attack In I know, at like Kogenta, I get very tired after using it. Now, pay attention, because I want you to remember this In."

Sentsa made finger motions for [Shin-Ri-Kan-Shin]

"It's the Hyaku Hanabira Bakuhatsu In. I trust that you won't waste it in a battle."  
"Understood."

Rikari chuckles a bit.

"What's so funny?"  
"I'm just glad we don't have to fight over this like Riku did with Kogenta."

A little later, Riku got up and Nazuna made breakfast. Riku commented about having a nice dream, but remembering none of the details of it. At some point, Teru was found on the ground outside.

"Oh crap, it's him."  
"Now, Rikari, don't be like that."  
"But this guy's an oaf who eats all our food every time we run into him."  
"You have a point... but still..."

Eventually, Teru comes to, and eats what Rikari lets Nazuna serve him. Riku and Rikari go out front and begin sweeping the shrine. Suddenly, four wild Earth-Style Toujinshi appear!

One extra long series of mook summoning sequences later...

"Kaede no Kurenai! Kenzan!"  
"Kurogane no Fuji! Kenzan!"  
"Mebuki no Fuurai! Kenzan!"  
"Hanmo no Ninkurou! Kenzan!"  
"Wow, we're up against four today. I'm suddenly glad that Teru wandered in here."  
"Shikigami! Summon!"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue flashy summon sequences.

"Byakko no Kogenta! Kenzan!"  
"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"

Cue short fight. And then Nazuna and Teru walked out of the shrine. All four party members were assembled.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue [strike]Gundam[/strike] Isoruku launching sequence.

"Akagane no Isoroku! Kenzan!"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue not as flashy as it could be summoning sequence. Kagome Kagome and the like.

"Hiiragi no Horin! Kenzan!"

Cue stalemate battle. Cue Fuji stabbing his teammates in the back. Cue Fuji and his Toujinshi fleeing. AGAIN. Meanwhile Sentsa curbstomps an overdue for her appearance Kurenai while Kogenta curbstomps Ninkuro. After everything's said and done, the party heads to the ruins again. Riku proceeds to search the tree again and finds a mysterious magatama. Suddenly, a wild Yuuma appears! Rikari throws a fit and starts questioning Yuuma's motives, slaps him, and is flat out knocked out cold in response. A battle breaks out between Kogenta and Rangetsu shortly thereafter. Just as Rangetsu is about to win because Kogenta has no support by request, and Riku was forced to use the Hyakki Messuigi In...

"I don't want to be alone anymore!"

Riku is at the point of tears. Then... Something... Euphemeral emerges from Kogenta's body, Rikari comming to just as it happens. Whatever it is, it proceeds to curbstomp Rangetsu to the point of almost losing before Yuuma retreats. It then proceeds to go back into Kogenta's body. Riku has a moment.

"That was a Grand Summon..."  
"It's nice to know that's what it's caled. Now what does it do, Nazuna?"  
"Nice to see you've rejoined us. It's what happens when a shikigami unleashes it's true power. It's supposedly really dangerous."  
"Sounds legit." Rikari sat up "Anyway, we should really head back. I'm sure Kogenta could use some rest, and I'm feeling bad about just letting Kogenta and Riku face Yuuma and Rangetsu on their own, so I could really use a bit of sweets, which are back at the shrine, too."

What happens next is essentially a recap from Kogenta with a side of Rikari's perspective as Riku is out shopping with Momo and Rina, who came after Riku and Kogenta respectively. Rikari helped force them out by using Riku as bait, but decided to stay behind in favor of helping Kogenta get better, as well as 'walking off' his injury that he incurred as a result of trying to forcably recruit Yuuma to his cause. A little later, Riku comes back and then the party of Riku, Rikari, Rina, and Momo go back to town. Nazuna promises to show up after she figures out what the Magatama does. Teru chases after the party shortly after they leave the shrine asking if he can join them for dinner. Rikari declines him. Brutally. With a fist to the face. Then his phone goes off (With Riku's part of Kimi to Nara's lyrics, which happened during chapter six.). Another email from Fubari and Fain. They ask how he managed to walk off being beaten senseless in less than a day. He sends them a reply of he had help getting better. God is in his Heaven. Everything's right with the world. Except that Rikari was still bruised from taking a punch to the gut.

TO BE CONTINUED

-Another abnormality has occured in this Continuum shift-  
-Next episode, the start of the One Mind, One Heart arc will begin-  
-What will happen? Nobody can say for sure. This is just another result of the continuum shift-


	12. Chapter 9

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

"Okay listen Riku, we can't tell Souma that we encountered Yuuma in Kyoto just yet. He said a few things he shouldn't have and assaulted me. I don't want to ruin the kid."  
"Understood."

Arriving home from Kyoto, Rikari and Riku are officially tired, with Rikari grunting, falling over face first, and then passing out as soon as he takes his first step in the door. Riku almost had a panic attack until Souma calmed him down, asking what had happened, and Riku making up a story on the spot.

'Wow, I guess he really was still hurting from Yuuma's punch to his stomach earlier. I wonder if he was attempting to use his Chi to fix himself up...'

The next day...

"Yawn..."

Rikari sat up from his futon and looked around.

"Am I in my room? Where did I pass out at last night? Sentsa? Are you here?"  
"Yes, at the front door, and yes, Riku dragged your body upstairs. More importantly, how did you manage to supress the pain from Yuuma's punch for so long?"  
"I was resting yesterday. I didn't have to move much so it didn't hurt until I had to walk again. That and I was attempting to channel my Chi into healing my cells faster. It didn't work out I guess. Healing must not be cheap in terms of ratios."

And then Riku walked in the door.

"Oh thank god you're awake. You had me worried sick last night, passing out at the front door like that after acting normal all the way home."  
"Sorry, ran out of Chi and the painkillers I'd taken at Nazuna's had worn off an hour before that. I'll stay in bed today, promise."  
"You better. I'd rather not lose another person I care about."  
"I have Souma here, too. Keep the fact that he sees us both as stand-ins for his angsting older brother at the moment. If either one of us goes out, it'll ruin him."

About three days have passed since then... Rikari being in bed for one and a half of them. Masaomi stopped in and Rikari asked him a few questions about the Drive, and no Toujinshi attacked, which left Rikari with a strange feeling. Where the hell were all the enemies? They used to just keep coming, but now it feels like they've wizened up a little bit, he tells himself.

"Oh well. I'll just take this repreive and go out with Riku and Souma to the local karaoke bar and grill tonight."

Later, Riku came home from school with more of Rikari's homework, Ryuji tagging along to come check on Rikari to make sure he was eating right.

"I'm fine, honestly. I've been on a non-standard diet consisting of only eating healthy since I got back. I was only really out for a day, you know."  
"Huh?"  
"I got assaulted, used a bi-product of my own life force in an attempt to heal myself, accidentally used too much at once, and still failed to heal myself. And here we are. I'm still a little bruised, but I'm well enough to come to school tomorrow now."  
"Oh... Okay. Just be sure to eat your veggies!"

And with that Ryuji left the house.

"I know he's concerned, but did you really have to let him tag along?"  
"He kind of forced his way in. That and it was either him or the teacher."  
"I'll take Ryuji over her any day of the week honestly. She just rubs me the wrong way, even if she is a good person. Anyway, I have plans for tonight. We're going to the local Karaoke bar and grill for dinner tonight, since we haven't really had a moment to relax between waves of Toujinshi."  
"Sounds like fun! Can I come too?"  
"I didn't get the chance to say that we're all going, and I'm treating yet, did I?"

The look on Souma's face was one of joy after hearing that. It was almost like he was back with his family again. Tonight was going to be a fun night.

And so night came, and the party of three left the house. Momo joined the group on the condition that she had to pay for one fourth of the bill herself, which she pouted about for a moment before muttering something about it being totally worth it to get to spend some time with Riku as his girlfriend.

Later, at the Karaoke bar and grill, Rikari has seized his opportunity to get up on stage, singing that song by Suther Rand that's always going off from his phone. Kogenta remarking about hearing Rikari say something about it being called Together With You when he was staying in his drive. Souma comments on having heard about it from V-Jump.

~There are a lot of things that don't turn out as I'd expect~ ~Even though I don't want to completely sacrifice them all~ ~At the moment when I touched your kindness~ ~Any pain is calmed~ ~I chase an unfinished dream~ ~If I'm with you I can go, towards that rainbow~ ~At times the road may be steep, long, and painful~ ~If it's the two of us we can go, to an unimaginable future~ ~Look your way, a shining world of impossible situations is anxiously awaiting us~ ~At times, even if a sad and lonely night comes, the two of us will continue to think of each other~ ~No matter what kind of fate~ ~Gets in our way~

And then the song is over and Rikari rejoins the party at the table, Momo going up and singing "Do You Remember Love?" while Rikari casually chats with the group.

~In my dreams I hear your voice calling out to me, saying "Darling come here"~

"So, it's been a while since we've been able to enjoy ourselves like this, hasn't it? I mean I don't think I've actually forced a break for myself since before we made our contracts, even."  
"Yeah."  
"I don't think I've really ever taken anything that would qualify as a break since before my family got split up."

~I love you sooo~

During the intermission of the the song, Momo thinks she sees three other 'people' sitting at the table, but after she blinks a few times, they seem to vanish, and she finishes singing the song, rejoining the group at the table, while Souma goes up and attempts to sing Mahou Sentai Magiranger. Rikari joins him on stage, filling in for the backup vocals and places where more than one person sings.

"Magic, it is a sacred power"  
"Magic, it is an adventure into the unknown."  
"Magic, and it is proof of Courage!" "Mahou Sentai! Magiranger!"

The last two parts being said in unison by Rikari and Souma, while the opening of Magiranger plays on the screen behind them.

~Go fight Maji! Maji! Majiranger!~ ~Believe in the future!~ ~Okay! All right! Courage is in your hands~ ~Begin your journey!~

"So, Riku, who were those other three people sitting here while I was up on stage?"  
"Erm, unless you can suddenly see Kogenta and the others, nobody."  
"Really?"

And the conversation goes from there. Eventually...

~Begin your journey!~

And with that, Rikari and Souma come down from the stage, Souma's face beaming in delight at how amazing his night was going. It was as if he really was back at the shrine with his Onii-sama, Mother, and Father. He never wanted this to end.

Eventually, Rikari convinced Riku and Momo to go up on stage and sing Get Along. Riku started out by saying the intro quote.

"Where monsters rampage, I'm there to take them down! Where treasure glitters, I'm there to claim it! Where an enemy rises to face me, VICTORY WILL BE MIIIIIIIIIINE!"

At which point Momo and Riku start singing the song together, the opening for The Slayers popping up behind them.

~No matter how hard this wind tries to push me back~ ~I recite a single spell and I set the pace my own way!~

"So, Souma, how are you enjoying the night?"  
"Is this... Real?"  
"You bet. As much as I don't want it to end either, it's probably the only break we're going to get in a while, so treasure tonight. The reason I invited Momo was so that she would at least get to spend some time with the person that she loves before he has to go off and save the world."  
"You... Wow, how long have you been planning this?"  
"Since you first moved in a bit back. I don't exactly need to worry about money that much, but I've been reallocating funds that I've been receiving towards the money I'd been saving for tonight. I really hope everyone gets the most out of tonight..."

~As far as I can...~ ~GET ALONG, TRY AGAIN~

And with that, the song ends. Riku and Momo look a little tired after that... intresting show they just put on.

"Bravo! Bravo!"

Clapping is heard from behind them. The source turns out to be Masaomi.

"How long have you been here?"  
"The whole time."  
"Wow, I'm slipping. That Toujinshi detection barrier I put up must have not been good enough."  
"Nah. I undid part of it."  
"Smooth. I'd expect nothing less."

And then everybody had dinner and went home. Except Masaomi, because he said he'd already eaten.

The next day, at school...

"Sorry I was gone so long, Sensei. For lack of better words, I was in a coma for a day and the doctor said bed-rest at home for at least two more was recommended."  
"Oh, my. Well, try not to overdo things again."  
"Oh believe me, I won't do it on purpose."

Fast forward to the rowing club meeting.

"We need to do more activities."  
"Who said that, Yumi-sensei?"  
"Pretty much every staff member in the school. In other words, we need to put up the pretense that we're doing activities."

The teacher goes on a short rant about things they could do. Meanwhile, Riku looks like he's lost in thought. Rikari notices after a little bit that he had been after the teacher appoints Riku team captain.

"Riku, you look a bit concerned. You don't have to talk about it now, but you at least have to tell me what's on your mind at home."  
"Okay..."

And so the meeting ended, school finished up for the day, and the party walked home. Riku admitted that a lot of things had happened in the last two or so months, and that last night had been the first break in a long time.

"Yeah. I had a talk with Souma last night where he basically admitted that his life sucked. I'm glad I could help make yours a little better too. Oh, look, there's the house."

And so Riku and Rikari went inside.

"We're home~"

Rikari then proceeded upstairs, saying something about a gunpla before disappearing into his room.

"Did anything happen while I was out?"  
"No... Oh wait, your grandfather left this memo. He also said that he was going somewhere."

Riku promptly freaks the hell out, startling Rikari, who comes downstairs with only his casual pants on, shirt in one hand and vest in the other. Riku says something about searching nearby and goes outside, Rikari shortly behind him. Eventually they end up at the shrine, which has since been fully restored. Upon not finding Riku's grandfather there, Riku starts brooding for a few moments before Kogenta comes out and gets on his case about it. Riku counters with a barrage of counterarguments and questions. Kogenta flinches at each of them, eventually saying it's human business. Then, Nazuna's voice is heard as she says something.

"Opening a Kimon to Fukumaden is by no means allowed. Those are the words that have been passed down to each generation of the Heaven-Style."  
"Nazuna-chan!"  
"Nazuna! Glad to see you could join us! I'm guessing you figured out what the magatama does?"  
"You bet I did! Supposedly, it's called the Moon Magatama. Supposedly if you present it at a Kimon, it will let you freely enter and exit the Fukumadn at Heaven-Style Shrines. Most likely, we can use it here too."  
"But doesn't going in and out of Fukumaden have bad things happening normally?"  
"Normally, yes. But I have an Onmyou divination board. It acts as a compass.  
"Meaning we won't be getting lost tonight."  
"You guys still haven't been in the Fukumaden yet?"

Souma and Masaomi walk up from behind, Nazuna flinches.

"Hey. I brought Gyuudon."

Nazuna breaks her momentary freeze, turning around.

"Riku-dono, who are these people?"  
"The one on the right is Souma-Kun. He's an Earth-Style user that joined our cause after a really... well bad turn of events. The one on the left is Masaomi-san. A Heaven-Style user that's been helping us since day one."

Nazuna takes a few moments to process her next move. She pulls out her Drive, pointing it at the new arrivals.

"I'm sorry, but I have to make you two disappear now."

Rikari promptly takes the Drive out of her hand and pockets it.

"Whoa now, calm the hell down there Nazuna. We need as many allies as we can get. You can kill off anybody else that wanders here, but not people that lack malicious intent."  
"So wait, you really DON'T know anything?"  
"Huh?"  
"The Earth-Style's been in the Fukumaden for AGES.  
"W-What?"  
"Well, I'm not sure of their goal, but they've been gathering Toujin stones."  
"I actually knew about this too. Did I not mention it before?"  
"No, actually. You didn't."

Shortly thereafter, Nazuna gets the details she needs from Masaomi and Souma.

Eventually, night falls and the party of Nazuna, Rikari, and Riku enter the Fukumaden. What happens next looks and feels like a trip through a wonderland of paper doorways, eventually ending up inside a field of the Fukumaden. Nazuna makes a few remarks, and some demons show up. Riku ends up in the water as Nazuna exorcizes them.

"So this is the Fukumaden... Is this entire world... This swamp-like?"  
"No. It isn't."  
"Great. Now let's find us a Toujin stone."

So the party ends up searching around for a bit, eventually getting into a fight with enemy Toujinshi, which ends with the enemy retreating. Afterwards, the party finds the Toujin Stone, and the Fukumaden begins to collapse.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH. WHY IS THE ENTIRE AREA COLLAPSING?"  
"It must be because the Toujin stone was holding it together. We should get out of here now."

And so the party left, having gained a Toujin stone. Upon exiting, a Byakko Shikigami walked past the entrance of the shrine, and colapsed.

"Erm... Did that Shikigami just... collapse?"  
"Yep. It certianly looks that way."  
"The question is WHY. Anyway, we should move him to the house. We can ask him questions later."

Rikari pulled out his Drive.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue very short flashy summon sequence.

"Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!"  
"Sentsa, if you'd be so kind, could you help me take him back to the house?"  
"Um, okay."

Later, at the house...

"So, why is there a stray Shikigami here?"  
"Good question. Maybe he was abandoned by his Toujinshi."  
"I... Don't think that's possible Souma."  
"I don't really care who he is! All I know is that we shouldn't trust him because he could be part of the Earth-Style or something!"  
"Yeah, but we couldn't just leave him out in the rain, Kogenta."

It's at this point that the Byakko comes to.

"Oh, look who decided to rejoin the world of the living. Is it safe to assume you're okay?"  
"I... Guess... More importantly, where exactly am I?"  
"You're at my apartment."  
"As for who we are, I'm Rikari, this fine gentleman in the blue jacket is Riku, the young boy is Souma, and the Miko is Nazuna."  
"Nice to meet all of you. Also, not to sound crazy or anything, but I heard another voice a little bit ago, I think it was probably my imagination, though."  
"I've been meaning to ask this to you. Are you a stray Shikigami?"  
"I guess you could call me that. I mean I'm not even sure what I am."  
"Lies!"

The Byakko flinched and ended up falling flat on his back in surprise.

"Who just said that?"

The Byakko then blinked a few times before sitting up, coming face to face with Kogenta's ethereal body. The Byakko then proceeded to, like a cat, reflexively jump out of his futon, and then backward some, landing like a cat, his tail's hairs standing on end.

"Who the hell are you?"  
"That's what I was going to ask you!"  
"Might I also say I don't recall ever meeting this Byakko either?"

Both Kogenta and the mystery Byakko promptly stared at Sentsa, who was out of Rikari's Drive fully, having been the one to carry the mystery Byakko back to the house. The Byakko's tail ceased having all of it's hairs on end.

"Look, I'll introduce myself first then. My name is Daichi Hoshi. I used to be human, but then... well stuff happened. I got kidnapped by a scientist, he gave me some kind of weird injection, something about DNA some kind of animal that he called a Shikigami, saying it had the ability to control the weather. After that he said something about wanting to use me to take over the world, and everything after that is a bit hazy. All I remember is pain and the color red."  
"Sounds pretty far-fetched to me."  
"Souma, what if I'd said that when you'd poured your whole life story out at me?"  
"Oh fine. I cede."  
"Sounds like a lie to me!"  
"Kogenta, do you remember that tim-"

Rikari is interrupted mid-sentence by Daichi.

"It's the truth, Cat-boy. And like it or not, I'm stuck like this, in this... Stupid cat form!"  
"I'm no cat! My name is Byakko no Kogenta! And just so you know, you're a Byakko too, Kid!"  
"Byakko? As in the White Tiger of the West?"  
"Yeah. Problem?"  
"Yes! It's because I apparently have your species' DNA that I'm like this! Now I can't live the life I want to anymore, and it's entirely you and the rest of the Shikigami's fault!"

Daichi proceeded to get up, attempt to punch Kogenta, and then made contact with Sentsa's cupped hand.

"Woah, calm down there. Rikari believes you."  
"I... I..."  
"What is it? Did you want to contact your parents? I do have a cellphone, so if you could tell me one of their email addresses I could send them an email saying that I'd found you while some people were chasing you, but they found you afterwards. You can tell them anything you wanted them to know before you 'died' if you want."

Daichi proceeded to look Rikari square in the eye, his pure, but tear filled emerald green eyes meeting his trust-filled, innocent amber eyes.

"I'm sorry... but I... I can't..."

Daichi burst into tears as he got up.

"I can't..."

Daichi ran towards the door and left the house. Riku ran after him. Souma and Nazuna got up and left the room shortly afterwards. All that was left was a slightly disheartened Rikari sitting next to his empty Futon and Sentsa, who was just standing there.

"Damn. There goes another ally. I wonder what I did wrong?"  
"You didn't. He'll probably be back, don't worry so much Rikari."  
"Sentsa... Would you mind keeping me company tonight? I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep without someone else joining me tonight."  
"I guess I could."

And with that, Rikari went to sleep, a bit saddened by what had just happened.

The next morning, Sentsa was only wearing the fundoushi that was under his pants. What had happened, Rikari had no idea, but Sentsa swore it was just because he felt hot wearing his clothes and armor, so he had to take most of it off.

TO BE CONTINUED


	13. Chapter 10

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

The morning after the Fukumaden raid...

"Wow Nazuna, you really can cook. Riku's going to be impressed. It's really too bad that you made this little. What, were you not planning on feeding Souma or something?"  
"Erm... Yeah pretty much."  
"Well, I just foiled your petty plan. I was going to have boiled eggs for breakfast this morning anyway, so Souma can have my portion."  
"But!"  
"No buts. He's just as much of a person here as you, me, and even Riku, do you understand?"  
"I guess it can't be helped..."

And so the morning went on. Riku walked down right after the argument between Nazuna and Rikari wondering what the heck just happened, but Rikari handwaved it as a debate. A little time passed and then Rikari and Riku went to school. Nazuna also left to go pack her stuff up back in Kyoto.

Later, after school, because the teacher said to, the rowing club went to the beach by the lake. There was a boat, but other than that, nothing noteworthy happened. Eventually everybody gave up and went home.

Riku was soaked. Rikari was laughing as he helped Riku with his clothing as he undressed to head into the bathroom to take a bath in an attempt to warm up.

'Tehe. Ryuji and him got soaked.'

Shortly after Riku finished his bath, he joined Rikari in the main room, shirt in hand, still drying off his hair.

"That was the most amazing thing I've seen all week. Just saying."  
"Laugh all you want. Next time, it's you."

Souma then proceeded to walk in with the divination board and the Moon Magatama.

"Riku, Rikari, let's go to the Fukumaden!"  
Riku flinched. Rikari chuckled.  
"I want to prove that I'm much more useful than that Miko."  
"Fine, fine. We'll go tonight. But it's going to be quite a while before sunset, so let's just go up to the shrine and wait there I guess. I'll get out both of my Gameboy Advance systems and we can play Super Robot Wars D or something."  
"I guess I can deal with that."

So the party went up to the shrine to pass some time. Daichi showed up at one point. Souma discovered he was REALLY BAD at Super Robot Wars, and Rikari got from stage 10 to stage 20. Then an enemy showed up with what looked to be a normal dog, but it wasn't, but that's okay because Daichi killed it, albeit getting injured in the process, and then got stuck in a chain of some sort before passing out, his new name (Byakko no Daichi) materializing briefly and then dissappering, Rikari procceeing to fly into a blind rage upon seeing it happen, the enemy running away after being flat out assaulted by Rikari who had since drawn his Tanto, Riku and Souma both wondering where the heck he got them and Kogenta flat out breaking into a moment of cheering Rikari on, having been summoned a little bit ago to help break the chain that Rikari had all but claimed for his own and was currently trying to untangle Daichi from.

"We need Daichi back to the house."  
"W-W-Where the heck did you learn how to use those, let alone obtain them?"  
"I improvised, but I legally own them as a means of self-defense. Now help me get these off of him."  
"I guess that works. But where the heck are you storing them?"  
"In my pants. I have the sheathes hidden right here between my cargo pockets and my pant legs."

Rikari proceeds to show off where he keeps his Tanto, showing off the zippers for both sides before putting the Tanto away.

"Now seriously. Help me get him back to the house."

The party then takes Daichi back to the house, putting off the Fukumaden raid for the next night in the process. Nazuna wasn't due back for at least another day, so Souma didn't exactly put up a fight about it, after arriving home Rikari treats Daichi's wounds, then proceeds to unpack his PS2, goes out and flat out buys a new-er TV, comes home, sets it up, and starts playing Super Robot Wars Alpha with Souma watching. In the front room. He makes it to the end of the stage right after the first Evangelion stage before calling it a night. Once again using Sentsa as a body pillow yet again, this time in Riku's room because Rikari had lent his room to the currently sleeping Daichi, Rikari drifted off into sleep.

* * *

Subchapter 10.5 Start

It was a stormy night. Rikari was in his room at his house playing a game when he heard a noise. It was his mother yelling at somebody. It didn't sound like his father when they yelled back in response, so he went downstairs to go check. What he found was his parents passed out, a small rock-like thing at his feet, and a man standing in the doorway. The front room was a mess. Thunder roared.

Rikari sat up in bed, in a cold sweat, panting slowly.

"It was just a dream, Rikari, just a dream..."  
"What is it Rikari?"  
"I'm not sure. I just remember having a really disturbing dream just now. I think it might be relevant to what's been happening lately, but I'm probably wrong."  
"If you say so. Anyway, it's still late, so you should go back to sleep."  
"Okay."

And with that, Rikari attempted to go back to sleep. He tossed and turned for the rest of the night, much to the dismay of Sentsa.

Subchapter 10.5 End

* * *

The next morning, in Rikari's room...

Rikari had entered his room humming the lyrics to Totsugeki Love Heart

"Ngh..."

Daichi attempted to sit up, but quickly fell back down.

"Oh look, he's awake."  
"How long was I out for?"

Kogenta sat up.

"All night. Rikari treated your wounds. You had a gigantic gash across the left side of your waist. Being a Shikigami you survived of course."  
"I'm not really sure if I should really be thankful for this change or not after that."

Rikari spoke up, a little muffled by his shirt.

"You were really bloodied up after that. You're lucky I know first aid, or else you'd be doing my laundry right now."

Rikari pointed to the bandages that were scattered across the floor, having gotten half changed into his casual clothes.

"You should have seen him yesterday. He flew into a blind rage to protect you after you got chained up, I could have sworn for a second that he wasn't human with the amount of speed and skill he exibited."

And then there was a knock on the door.

"Can I come in?"  
"Sure Riku. Everybody's awake."

Riku then came in. Rikari had managed to get fully dressed by this point.

"How are you feeling Daichi?"  
"Fine, I guess..."

Riku joined Daichi on the left side of the futon.

"That's good."  
"Riku, did I scare you or Rikari when I was fighting that monster dog? All I remember is getting really angry and then being surrounded by chains as Rikari was trying to get them off of me before everything went dark."  
"Well, you killed the dog. Then you had almost succumbed to your injuries when Rikari jumped in and cut the guy that was attempting to kill you."  
"You nearly gave me a heart attack, Daichi."

Daichi instinctively flinched. At some point Rikari had situated himself in front of him and was now sitting with his legs criss-crossed.

"You should probably take lessons from either Kogenta or Sentsa on how to fight. I'm a terrible teacher myself, even if I did fend off that guy yesterday. The funny thing is, the whole thing is a little blurry. All I remember is seeing your name and then suddenly threatening the guy's life with both of my Tanto. Everything between those moments is the color red."

The conversation continues from there, with Kogenta and Daichi comming to an agreement on tutoring eventually.

A little later, the party consisting of Daichi, Riku, Rikari, and Souma went to the shrine. They ended up searching for Daichi's stone dagger that he'd ended up dropping, and by the time they'd found it, it was already night time.

"Well, now that we've found that, we should totally go into the Fukumaden. Wanna tag along, Daichi?"  
"Erm... Sure."  
"Just try not to get lost!"

Kogenta and Daichi got into a small argument as Souma pulled Riku and Rikari aside.

"Do either of you doubt me like Nazuna does? Do either of you think I'm an Earth-Style spy?"  
"No Souma. We don't."  
"But what if I was? People's hearts can change at the drop of a hat, at random. Like Onii-san. He wasn't always like that..."  
"Souma, i't probably best for me to tell you this now. When Riku and I were in Kyoto, your broth-"

Suddenly Fukumaden trasportation.

"Soooo... It looks like we're in a metal field this time."  
"Yep."

After a little while, enemy toujinshi showed up. More specifically, two Toujinshi and an unknown Byakko-type Shikigami. A small amount of banter is exchanged before Miyuki flat out states that Yuuma got his ass kicked by Riku in Kyoto.

"However, I saved him before Rangetsu was defeated, so he's still a Toujinshi."

Souma tears up for a moment.

"It serves him right!"  
"I like how you left out the part where I tried to recruit him into our party."  
"It wasn't important."  
"Like hell it wasn't! I flat out bitched the guy out for what he did, slapped him, and then got punched in the gut so hard that I was out for three days afterwards after trying to use my chi to heal myself."  
"Wow. Stupid move on your part."  
"Cut the crap. I know you don't care."

And then the party pulled out their drives.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue triple flashy summoning sequence.

"Byakko no Kogenta! Kenzan!"  
"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"  
"Ikazuchi no Fusanoshin! Kenzan!"

Suddenly, a battle breaks out. Eventually, the Toujin stone is found during the crossfire, and Sentsa is the one to retreive it after Fusanoshin almost lost it to the enemy Toujinshi group. The Fukumaden proceeds to fall apart and everybody makes it out just in time.

"Whew... That was TOO close."  
"I'm a little mad that we almost lost the Toujin stone today."  
"But we DIDN'T. However if Sentsa and I hadn't been there we probably would have. Take that to heart Souma."

TO BE CONTINUED


	14. Chapter 11

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

A few days after the previous incident...

At the shrine...

Teru is walking up the shrine pathway. He collapses upon reaching the top of the pathway.

"Oh crap. It's HIM again."  
"Now Rikari, that's not a very nice thing to say about an ally."  
"He's a glutton."  
"Haha. I suppose you're right."

Eventually, Teru comes to.

"Ah, it's Riku-dono and Rikari-sama. Is this Riku's shrine?"  
"Yep. And as hungry as you are, I don't have anything for you. Even if you walked all the way here. Which knowning you, you probably did."  
"As always, you know me a bit too well, Rikari-sama."

Riku, being the sucker that he is, pulled out a Bento box and gave it to Teru.

"Ah! Here you go. I'll just buy bread or something. Anyway, Rikari and I need to get going now. Would you mind cleaning the shrine?"  
"Sure thing!"

And with that, Teru took the broom that Riku had and started cleaning the place. Rikari and Riku then made their way towards school.

"Riku, that really isn't nescessary... I do always pack extra in case one of our club members forgets to buy lunch and all, but did you really need to give him yours?"  
"It was the right thing to do."  
"Fine. I'll cave for now."

And then school happened. Shortly there after Riku freaked out. Something about Teru and Souma.

At the shrine...

Teru was charging at Souma. And then suddenly he gave him a hug. Souma just stared at Teru as it happened.

"Wh-What just happened?"

Daichi then hopped down from the roof of the shrine.

"Geez. It's impossible for a Byakko to sunbathe here, isn't it? Anyway, Souma was just telling Teru about what happened to his dad."  
"That's a relief."  
"Even if they had ended up fighting, if I'd gotten here in time, I'd have stopped it anyway."

Rikari had finally caught up with Riku, jumping out of a nearby tree.

"I figured I'd take a more direct route after dropping my stuff off at home. I guess I was still a little too slow, even with a Toujinfu path THROUGH the treetops."  
"So, is the Kimon is opening tonight right?"  
"Um... yeah... I guess."

Cue montage of waiting time images, a few of which envolve Daichi and or Souma playing Pocket Monsters Ruby/Sapphire with Rikari.

After a while, the Kimon opens. The party of Riku, Rikaru, Daichi, Souma and Teru enters the Fukumaden. They wander around for a bit, Teru falling into a hole and Rikari falling flat on his ass and laughing about it, Daichi and Souma opting to search underneath the hill that the other half of the party had just found. Eventually, the Toujin stone shows itself, but then it ceases to be where it just was as Kogenta, who was summoned previously in an attempt to fight off a wild enemy rabbit, falls into the same hole that Teru had fallen into. All the while, Rikari is looking around at all the battles going on at once. Fusanoshin is fighting a Nekomimi, Daichi is fighting the Mystery Byakko, and Isoroku is fighting Fuji. Then, a giant flower comes out of the altar in front of Rikari and Riku. Riku proceeds to summon Kogenta's sword and he slices out of the Lotus with the Toujin stone in hand. Isoroku then comes flying in, knocking it into the air, the giant enemy rabbit reaching for it.

"It appears that we win today, Heaven-Style."  
"Nope. We do."

Sentsa then proceeds to intercept the Toujin stone while Rikari assaults the Toujinshi of the GIANT ENEMY RABBIT with his tonfa. Fusanoshin and Souma fly up shortly afterwords saying that the Fukumaden was falling apart.

"Souma! Look what we got!"  
"You guys actually got another one?"  
"Yep! We also chased the enemy o-"

Teru comes running up, a wild Fuji hot on his tail.

"Whoops. Spoke too soon. We should still get out of here."

So the party proceeds to start fleeing, Fuji chases, Riku invokes the Hyakki Messuigeki In, and everybody leaves.

Outside the shrine...

"Say... Daichi... Where did you wander off to?"  
"I was busy fighting Taichi."  
"Taichi?"  
"The other Byakko."  
"Gotcha."

On the way home, Rikari let out a yawn.

'Wow. I must be tired. I mean I guess it's natural from what just happened, but still.'

Eventually, the party reached the house, Teru left after being told that rent was 40000 Yen, and Nazuna had arrived. She threw a fit when Rikari accidentally leaked the fact that they'd gone into the Fukumaden twice, but her expression quickly turned into one of joy when she saw the Toujin stones that Rikari had quickly produced from his inner vest pockets. She still made everyone promise not to go in the Fukumaden without her again.

The next day at school, semester grade cards got handed out. School got dismissed for the summer vacation after that, with the rowing club walking home together. Nazuna noted that the Kimon was opening that night when Riku and Rikari arrived home.

Eventually, when night came, the rest of the rowing club was discovered to be lurking outside the house. They ended up tagging along for the Fukumaden raid.

'Wow, it's an ice field this time...'

The rowing club eventually splits up.

"Riku-dono, this is really tiring."  
"I know... At least the place is quiet."

Eventually Momo comes up and jacks the board. Nazuna is left with a dumbstruck look on her face as Riku chases after her and Rikari is left to just stand there. Shortly after that, the entire club is ambushed by a few youkai and a giant enemy [strike]crab[/strike] crayfish, leaving the trio of Toujinshi to bust them. After that, it turned out that the giant crayfish was a Shikigami, and had support. Eventually, the battle turns to the water, where our trio has to rely on their Drives to tell them where their opponents are. And then the Toujin stone's location becomes obvious. The battle is wrapped up shortly when Kogenta and Sentsa slice up one of the enemy Shikigami, leaving the other one to retreat. The party retrieves the Toujin stone and proceeds to leave.

Meanwhile, back at the shrine, Souma and Daichi were playing blackjack.

"Well... That makes five straight victories for me. Ready to give up yet?"  
"N-Never! I won't stop trying 'till I win!"

And then the Kimon glowed, the party exiting the Fukumaden, Toujin stone in hand.

"Heaven-Style: 4, Earth-Style: 0!"

So the party went home, with the rowing club going their separate ways for the night.

A few days passed...

It was the middle of Rowing practice. Masaomi showed up and attempted to take Riku away, only to be met with a TAKE ME WITH YOU from Rikari. So the party of Riku, Masaomi, and Rikari went to Riku's shrine.

"I think there's a Toujin Stone in the field we're going to today."  
"Sounds legit. But it's the middle of the day."  
"Yeah but is there a moon out?"  
"Yes."  
"So let's go."

Riku proceeded to drop the Moon Magatama on the floor of the shrine, and the entrance to the Fukumaden opened. The party went in. Riku went to explore the castle that was present in the Fukumaden while Rikari stuck to Masaomi like glue. Eventually, an enemy Toujinshi that oddly, reminded Rikari of Kamen Rider V1, minus a helmet showed up.

"Dat scarf."  
"Dis scarf."  
"Anyway, you're Earth-Style aren't you."  
"Yep."  
"Well then, I guess it's time to fight."

Masaomi and Rikari drew their drives.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue flashy summon sequence.

"Seiryuu no Kibachiyou! Kenzan!"  
"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"

The enemy then summoned their Shikigami, and a battle broke out. Eventually, Riku and Kogenta walked in on it, just as Kibachiyou and Masaomi finished the opponent's shikigami off. A small scene confirming Masaomi as bro-tier occured afterwords.

"In the end, we didn't get a Toujin stone, did we?"  
"Nope. It's too bad really, you guys even missed the fight."  
"How amazing was it?"  
"Words cannot describe."  
"Really? Do tell."

Daichi had jumped off the roof of the shrine at some point. Having given a little bit of thought to it, Rikari had also seen Daichi sweeping up the shrine grounds earlier, too, so it made sense that he'd be up there.

"Masaomi and Kibachiyou curbstomped a guy."

Daichi's reaction was a mix between surprise and awe. After a little bit, the party went back to the house, Masaomi having long since vanished off again.

TO BE CONTINUED


	15. Chapter 12

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

The party of Rikari, Riku, Nazuna, and Souma had just come home from the shrine, having attempted to enter the Kimon and failed. Rikari was the first to the door, and, upon opening it, found a letter lodged in the doorway.

"Hey what's with this letter in the door... Oh. It's addressed to Riku."

Rikari promptly cut open the seal on the envelope and handed it to Riku.

"It's from Teru, and from the looks of things, he's working at a hotspring up north at the moment. He seems to be requesting my help on something."  
"Watch as it's money."  
"Souma. Please get out of my head."

Rikari and Souma shared a short moment of laughter together before going inside. Games were played that night.

The next day...

"Wait what do you mean Riku's gone to help Teru without me?"  
"He pretty much said that he could handle it just fine."  
"I guess it's okay that he thought that, but what are we going to do while he's gone? Nazuna, do you think we can handle a Fukumaden raid?"  
"Well, there's three of us, and whenever you go along, we seem to have a good track record. Not that I'd know or anything since I was gone for most of those times. And Riku-dono DID leave the Moon Magatama with us."  
"Sounds like a plan then! I'll go make lunch, Nazuna, go get Daichi, Souma... Well, I guess you could take care of making sure drinks and other things we might need, including electronics and playing cards are packed?"  
"He should be at the shrine since I assigned him to gaurd it for the time being."  
"Sure thing!"

And so the party went about preparing for a midday Fukumaden raid. When they arrived at the shrine, Nazuna told Daichi that he was to continue gaurding the shrine, much to the disapproval of Rikari, who was standing in as the group leader until Riku came back.

Later...

The Fukumaden was very much a mountian biome. There weren't many youkai, and the only thing that stood out were two rocks on a cliff.

"If my experience with playing video games has taught me anything, it's that places like these are usually hidden paths."

Rikari held out his drive, Sentsa materializing in his ethereal form.

"Sentsa, is there anything around here that resembles a seal?"  
"Hand on a second, I'll use the Drive to find out."

A few minutes passed, and then the space between the rocks suddenly had a seal with the character for Heaven in between them.

"Well now, what do we have here? A secret area?"  
"Rikari-san, the Divination board is responding. I think there might be something past here."  
"Well, let's not just keep standing here, then!"

Rikari pulled out a Toujinfu and a seal with the character for unbind appeared in front of him, a bridge and door appearing.

"Right, there might be some Earth-Style people lurking around here, so when we're on the bridge, I'm going to need to request that you guys help me stealth this place 'till we're done here."

And, as Rikari had planned out, the bridge and doorway were cloaked in a blanketed combination of Earth and Heaven-Style barrier and conceal seals. With that task completed, the party went inside.

"Wooooooooooow! This place is amazing!"  
"It looks like... Paradaise. All four seasons in one place..."

Nazuna just stood there, staring. After a few moments, she spoke.

"Rikari-san, I have a feeling that this place might be important. We should probably leave and re-errect the Heaven seal that we found here."  
"Nazuna, as much as I agree with you, we still need to find the Toujin stone. I mean we don't need to take it with us in this case, but we should at least cloak it if we do that. In the meantime, let's have lunch in that gazebo over there!"

On their way down to the gazebo, not a single Youkai was found. It was as if this was a sacred place in the Fukumaden, where not a single Youkai dared to tread even the slightest step. When the party reached the Gazebo, Rikari immediately started unpacking lunch, along with the playing cards so that they could all play poker while eating.

Eventually...

"Wow, that was a lot of fun! I didn't know you were so good at poker, Nazuna!"  
"Well, I have some free time at home where I play it with Souma. He taught me how to play when we were bored at one point."  
"I-I-It's not like I cared or anything, I was just bored."  
"Anyway, we should really look for that Toujin stone now, and then hide this place before an Earth-Style toujinshi shows up and wrecks our day."

The group drew their drives.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue abbriveated summons.

"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"  
"Ikazuchi no Fusanoshin! Kenzan!"  
"Hiiragi no Horin! Kenzan!"  
"Okay, let's get to work!"

So the party split up, and after a little bit, found the Toujin stone hidden on top of the gazebo. One heavy blanket of barriers and concealing toujinfu later, the party was out of the area, having re-placed the Heaven seal and undone the other barriers and concealment seals.

"In the end, we didn't end up getting the a Toujin stone, did we?"  
"Nope. But we did get a nice day at what could be considered to be a holy ground in the Fukumaden. You should be more thankful, Rikari-san."  
"Plus it seems that Mikazuchi's goons hadn't found that place yet."  
"That's ALWAYS a plus, Souma. It means one less fight, albeit one less chance for me to chase off a guy with my swords. Anyway, let's go home for now."

Rikari, having looked around for Daichi for a little bit after the others left, figured he had gone home already. His feeling was right when he found Daichi attempting, and faling to assemble the 1:144 Impulse Gundam he had bought before, but had not yet assembled in the middle of his room.

"Gah. My hands are too big to do this now! Or are they paws now? I don't feel any pads, so they must still be hands, unlike my feet, which have pads now..."  
"You know, I would have just brought you a kit, some nippers, sandpaper, and some form of tweezers if you'd asked, Daichi."  
"Wah! How long have you been there for, Rikari?"  
"Since you complained about having big hands. Why dont you try taking off your gloves instead of complaining, huh?"  
"Didn't think of that."  
"Say, since you're technically living in a physical body right now, doesn't that mean you need to make sure your coat doesn't get messy?"  
"I suppose..."  
"Good. Join me tonight when I take my bath."

Daichi's white face turned a slight pink.

"O-okay..."  
"I'll sort things out with your coat then. Sentsa can join us, too."

And so Rikari made a snack, having eaten an actual meal only a few hours ago in the Fukumaden. Time was a weird thing while they were in there, after all. Eventually, Rikari went to take his bath, calling Daichi and calling out Sentsa to join them. He really had his hands full, grooming not only one overgrown cat, but TWO of them. At least neither of them were averse to water, but they sure did like to squirm. At some point, Daichi had noticed Rikari's style ranker, asking what it was, prompting him to notice that the counter had risen to five at some point.

'Three more to go. I wonder what'll happen when it hits 8...'

The next day...

Riku had returned from the Inn relatively early. Momo had questioned him on it, but Nazuna pretty much killed her point with an argument. Eventually, the rowing club, Souma, Nazuna, and Daichi all ended up at the shrine, with Rikari asking Riku to fill him in on what happened while he was assembling gunpla kits with Daichi.

Eventually, Souma showed up, looking like his hopes and dreams had just been crushed. Rikari was the first one to attempt to do something about it, asking him what had happened. But before he could really say anything, Kogenta all but ruined the moment by announcing that the moon was out.

"Well, I guess it's time for a field trip then!"

This time, it was another metal field. It looked like the one they were in before when they had to fight that crazy lady and Yuuma's girlfriend. Shortly after entering, a wild Toujinshi and a wild Kurogane no Fuji appeared. Since Rikari was off following Nazuna and Souma, Riku and Kogenta began the engagement alone. By the time Rikari and the party rejoined Riku and Kogenta, there was a Grand Summoned Kurogane no Fuji instead of the normal one.

"Crap. Guys, we need to help Riku, NOW!"  
"You don't think we know that?"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue short summon sequence.

"Hiiragi no Horin! Kenzan!"  
"Wow, Nazuna, you're serious today. I'd better keep up! Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue flashy abbreviated summon sequence.

"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"

The backup party then proceeded to sortie and Horin, along with Fusanoshin were all but rendered temporarily useless by a single surprise attack, which, in response to, Rikari and Sentsa had to act as support for them by removing them from combat, and, during this time, Riku had invoked the Hyakki Messuigeki In again, and in doing so, invoked Kogenta's Grand Summon. Although the enemy was taken down, the Fukumaden fell apart, Riku and Kogenta going missing in the process of it all happening. Rikari was very much irritated at the prospect of leaving them behind, but after being told to take the others and get the hell out of there by Riku, he had no choice but to leave, too.

A little bit later, at the shrine.

"Woah!"  
"Wah!"  
"Pomf!"

The new party of three flew out of the shrine, Rikari getting all the weird looks.

"Okay, that didn't go nearly as good as planned. But look at the bright side, I'm still here, and my shikigami is still perfectly fine. I could go back in and look for him right now if you want."  
"Where's Rikkun?"

Rikari flinched.

"Erm... Momo, we lost him. I'm going to go back in after him in a little bit, but it's going to be difficult for just me to go back in there after him. Don't count on Riku comming back for a little while as a result."  
"Wh-Wh-?"

And then Masaomi showed up.

"Hey guys, where's Riku?"  
"Ah, just the person I wanted to see! We lost Riku in the Fukumaden. Would you mind comming along as my backup?"  
"What. Yes. Of course. We need to act fast. Nazuna, would you lead the way?"  
"O-Of course!"  
"I'm comming too!"  
'Great. Now we have dead weight.'

Masaomi had clearly just lost his cool for a second before realizing that Rikari was fully serious on not just the first, but also the second part.

Later, in the Fukumaden...

"Wow, this place is falling apart."

The group was silent for about a minute before two familiar voices rang out.

"Wow, this place is falling apart. I wonder what happened."  
"Oh great, it's those two again."  
"Oh great, it's a whole group of them this time."  
"Hey there ladies, I don't suppose I could just convince you to leave, could I? Our leader kind of fell down a hole and we need to find him."  
"Erm, no. We need to find out what happened here."  
"Tha-"

Rikari placed a hand on Nazuna's shoulder.

"Nazuna, now's not the time for this. Ladies, There was a double Grand Summon. The Toujinshi of Kurogane no Fuji somehow invoked it and our leader ended up invoking the Grand Summon to fight him. Now would you mind leaving?"  
"Erm... Sure. I need to go tell this to Father anyway..."  
"No way! We've got to take these guys out first, Miyuki!"

Eventually a fight broke out between the overly zealous lady and the current party, with the overly zealous lady losing. Miyuki threw a small fit after that and then Yuuma showed up, only to leave shortly thereafter, taking Miyuki with him. Then Riku showed up. He said something about a really cool guy named Yakumo saving him from some weird guy claiming to be with the Jin-Style. Nazuna filled him in on what she new, Rikari and Souma making comments about him sharing the same name with the protagonist of a manga they were both reading.

After flying out of the shrine, for the second time in a single day, Rikari finally allowed his composure to loosen a little bit. He'd just helped rescue the Heaven faction's de-facto leader, after all, even if he hadn't really done anything at all.

"I'm going home ahead of the rest of you guys now. I'm a little tired."

Rikari then proceeded home, collapsing about half-way there, and having to ask Sentsa to carry him the rest of the way. He'd really been pushing his limits the whole time, appearantly.

Later, in Rikari's bedroom.

~Omoi doori ni naranai koto ga ooi~ ~Zenbu nagedashite shimai takunattemo~

"It's been a while since they last sent me an email..."

TO BE CONTINUED. 


	16. Chapter 13

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

Rikari was sore all over. Even while forcing himself to keep calm during the whole time Riku was missing yesterday, his body had still managed to force it's opinion on him, albeit afterwards. Today was going to suck, even if he was only going up to the shrine to build Gunpla and play cards with Daichi.

Grabbing a bottle of painkiller, some sunscreen, and enough snacks for two people for the day, Rikari set out to the shrine.

"Daichi, I know you're here somewhere! Don't make me look for you, I'm really sore after yesterday!"

Silence.

"Where the hell is he?"

Suddenly, Daichi came flying out from the forest, a boar-like shikigami comming out shortly thereafter.

"Never a dull day here, is it?"

Rikari pulled out his drive.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue flashy summoning sequence.

"Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!"  
"Sentsa, do you see that Boar-shikigami over there? I want you to crush him so I can play with Daichi in peace. You can join in afterwords if you want. [Shin!-Ri!-Da!]"

Sentsa's sword appeared from a shougi gate, as always.

"Setsumaru! Sanjou!"  
"Alright, let's go."  
"You should really change your attitude about this, Rikari. You're starting to act like a spoiled brat.  
"What? Can't hear you over the sound of my friend getting the pulp beaten out of him over there."

So Sentsa engaged the Boar Shikigami. Eventually Rikari invoked the Furumunkikkudansu In and then the battle was over. Daichi had climbed back up the hill at some point, and was now sitting on the roof of the shrine.

"Daichi, what happened?"  
"What did it look like? Some Earth-Style toujinshi came by and tried to force me to contract with them when they found out I was a stray. I declined."  
"Oh. Well, you know, you could always contract with one of us, and that probably would be solved."  
"Pass. For you, I'll consider it, however."  
"Glad to know that I have a friend who is able to back me up if I lose in battle."

The conversation topic drifted from there. Time passed, and eventually Riku came out of the Fukumaden, much to the surprise of Rikari.

The next day...

In the middle of rowing club, Youkai were suddenly flying through the sky. Rikari and Riku quickly went home. Nazuna mentioned that she was going to the shrine to preform an excorsim, and Souma pointed out that it was most likely Mikazuchi's fault.

Later, at the shrine...

Suddenly loads of youkai. Suddenly Toujinfu and basic attacks with the occasional Hissatsu are being flung every which-way. Eventually, Yuuma shows up, challenging Riku to a battle. Riku accepts. In the middle of the battle, Riku has a very dirastic personality shift, and invokes not only two, but three In that Rikari had yet to see him use. He was pretty sure that Riku didn't know at least two of them, however, since he used one of them before the personality shift. After a little bit of further fighting, Rangetsu went Grand Summon after Yuuma invoked what Rikari assumed was probably their version of the Hyakki Messuigekki, promptly flat out destroying Kogenta.

"This is a lie... It has to be..."

Riku collapsed. Rangetsu reverted to normal form.

"Did he just... Did Riku just... Lose?"

Rikari was having more than a little trouble comprehending what just happened.

"No. I won't let Yuuma get away this time."

Just as Yuuma was leaving, Rikari pulled out his Drive.

"Rikari! What are you doing! You're just going to end up losing, too!"  
"You know what, Souma? I don't think I care. All I want right now is to see your brother taste despair."  
"What are you say-"  
"Yuuma, as the only other Toujinshi able to claim the title of Heaven-Style Originator, I challenge you to a duel, here and now. Shikigami Summon."

Cue abbreviated summon sequence.

"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"  
"Hah! I just beat your leader! What are you doing to do?"  
"Sentsa. We're going to beat Rangetsu in Grand Summon. I'm using the Hyaku Hanabira Bakuhatsu In to send you into Grand Summon now, if that's alright with you."

Sentsa nods.

"Alright, then. Let's go. [Shin-Ri-Da-Shin]"  
"Hyaku Hanabira Bakuhatsu!"

Suddenly, Sentsa was mid-air, pink flower petals strewn everywhere, still being blown by the wind. It was the most stunning thing Rikari had seen since becoming a Toujinshi, save for the Four-Season field in the Fukumaden the other day. And then, the flower petals exploded into a storm, causing visible damage to Rangetsu. What happened next was a bit jarring for everyone. Sentsa fell to the ground after the storm had subsided, and then his body quickly changed into a form similar to Kogenta's Grand Summon, save for aesthetic changes.

"I don't care how you do it Sentsa, but I want Yuuma to feel what I'm feeling right now! I don't want to know this feeling of loss even one more time!"

Sentsa roared, quickly attacking Rangetsu. The battle lasted for a bit, but eventually Rangetsu tired out and was just about to lose, when Miyuki once again saved Yuuma's sorry ass. Shortly afterwords, Sentsa reverted to his normal form, Rikari suffering fully from a nervous breakdown at that point, shaking Riku in a futile attempt to get him to wake up. This lasted for about ten minutes before Souma and Nazuna were able to pry him off of Riku.

An hour later...

"Riku-Sama! Please wake up!"  
"Riku... Please hang in there!"  
"Ngh..."  
"Riku?"  
"Rikari? Who are these people?"  
"Erm... What? Don't you remember Nazuna and Souma?"  
"No. More importantly, why am I at my grandfather's shrine?"  
"It's a really long story. I'll tell you when I'm not in the middle of a panic attack. For now, let's get you back to the house."

So the party went back to the house. Riku was a bit bewildered as to why Souma and Nazuna were still around, and Souma had grabbed Momo's attention at one point.

The next day, in Rikari's room...

"Okay guys, battle plan time. In the case that we can't fix Riku, I'm probably going to end up taking his spot. Which I really don't want to do after what he just put me through."

Rikari took a deep breath.

"I think now's as good a time as any to head outside and get some fresh air."

Outside...

Masaomi rode in on his Moped.

"Hey guys. I have five boxes of Hyper Gyuudon."  
"Masaomi. Riku lost a battle. Please tell me you can fix him."  
"What."

Masaomi dropped his helmet as he ran inside and did something to Riku's Drive. A little while passed, and Kibachiyou spawned from Masaomi's Drive.

"Well, I've got good news. Kogenta's contract with Riku isn't broken."

And then Momo showed up and threw a fit, forcing the new party of Masaomi, Nazuna, Rikari, and Souma to back off as she slammed the front door.

"I guess we're going to have to take him to Naraku at some point in the near future."  
"I'll drag Kogenta back myself if you tell me where it is."  
"Rikari, you don't really need to go that far..."  
"No. Seriously. Tell me where Naraku is."  
"No. I'll take you with me if I take Riku there, assuming he wants to go."

And then Riku came outside, asking Masaomi to fix him. Rikari's expression in response was a mix of surprise and joy. And then the party of Masaomi, Riku and Rikari went to Naraku. Masaomi stayed at the gate, while Rikari refused to leave Riku alone, on the offchance that Masaomi decided to try something. At some point, Riku and Rikari got separated on their way to the graveyard area.

"Woah. This place looks just like my house."  
"Rikari, I'd advise NOT summoning me here, by the way."

Sentsa's voice had come from his drive, which was firmly secured to his waist.

"You can't even materialize?"  
"No. I don't think so."  
"Damn. I'm glad there aren't any Youkai here, at least according to Masaomi. Anyway, why are we in my old house? Most of this place burned down years ago. My room was lucky to make it through in-tact."  
"Not sure. Let's look around."

Eventually, Rikari made his way up to his old room. At some point he had noticed that it appeared to be storming outside. When he reached his room, he gasped in surprise. What he saw inside it was a younger version of himself.

"Th-Tha-That's me! What is this place?"

Rikari began clutching his head.

"Is this... Is this the night Mom and Dad went missing?"

He hears a scream from downstairs. He quickly makes his way down, the younger version of himself clearly oblivious to his older counterpart. What he sees when he gets to the bottom of the stairs is his mother, collapsing, dropping a Toujinshi Drive. His father is already on the ground, unconcious. There's a man that leaves through the front door as thunder claps. He has green Hair and looks to be wearing a feudal robe. The kitchen is on fire. Rikari's knees give out and he's soon using his thighs to hold himself up.

"Okay. Now I know that the whole Toujinshi thing runs in the family. But that still doesn't solve the problem of who the hell that was. Anyway, I should really keep moving before I turn into Shinji Ikari."

Suddenly, shogi doors appear and then proceed to open, revealing the Shikigami graveyard. Rikari manages to stand up and walk through the doorway.  
"Oh thank god I made it."

Standing in front of him is a very confused looking man, who couldn't be more than 17 years old, and an ethereal Kogenta.

"Oh. Hey there. Riku is on his way, but I think he's still going to be a little while. Anyway, who's this guy, Kogenta?"  
"Erm... This really wasn't what I was expecting to happen... Anyway, this is Yakumo."  
"As in the protagonist of the Onmyou Taisenki manga?"  
"Wait, they actually went through with that?"  
"Yeah. Your story with Kogenta's being serialized monthly."  
"Okay..."  
"We should really exchange contact information so that I can get ahold of you in case bad stuff goes down, assuming you're not in the Fukumaden at the time."  
"I guess."

After a little bit, more shogi doors appear. Out pops Riku, who runs towards Kogenta, who fully materializes for a hug. A small discussion on Riku being the Heaven-Style Originator from a thousand years back occurs as the party walks back to the entrance. Masaomi isn't there.

"So, does this mean you're back in full, Riku?"  
"Yeah."

The party, consisting of Yakumo, Riku, and Rikari walks out of Naraku. Eventually, they end up in an Ice Fukumaden. Riku asks Yakumo about the Fukumaden, and Yakumo obliged. After telling Rikari and Riku the way out, an enemy Toujinshi attacked.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Yakumo. Keep in touch."  
"Will do, Rikari!"

In the ensuing chaos, Masaomi reappeared, claiming to have been chased out by a weirdo. The party then exited Naraku, at which point everybody had an emotional scene, save for Rikari, Daichi, and Masaomi.

On the way home...

~There are a lot of things that don't turn out as I'd expect~

Rikari shed a tear.

~Even though I don't want to completely sacrifice them all~

More tears followed.

~At the moment when I touched your kindness~

And then, even more tears.

~Any pain is calmed~

And yet, he felt happy.

~I chase an unfinished dream~

His best friend was back with him in full again.

~If I'm with you I can go, towards that rainbow~

He wasn't going to sit back and let everybody else fight without him anymore.

~At times the road may be steep, long, and painful~

It was about time he actually stepped up and took an active role. He was the other Byakko user in the Heaven-Style, after all.

~If it's the two of us we can go, to an unimaginable future~

He was done trying to force himself to play submissive.

~Look your way, a shining world of impossible situations is anxiously awaiting us~

It was about time he started to play the role of Rikari Satio again.

~At times, even if a sad and lonely night comes, the two of us will continue to think of each other~

And Rikari Satio does as he pleases.

~No matter what kind of fate~

No matter who or what gets in his way.

~Gets in our way~

He'll smash them all and reach his goal.

"Hmm? Rikari, were you singing Kimi to Nara just now?"  
"Yeah."

Shortly after that occured, Rikari's Style Ranker had seven marks on it. However, nobody noticed. Nobody really cared.

To Be Continued. 


	17. Chapter 14

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

Riku had gone to the Earth-Style base with Souma and Rikari. Masaomi had gone along with them, albeit on his motorbike, leaving Nazuna back at the house.

Later, at Earth-Style HQ, Rikari had forced his hand to join Riku when he went to meet with Mikazuchi. The man wasn't too bad looking for somebody who was supposed to be rather old. Of course, that didn't really matter much. Yuuma showed up and challenged Riku to another duel, leaving with him to go to the roof.

"Sooooo, how much of that was a lie just now?"  
"None of it."  
"Really? A Jin-Style Toujinshi I interrogated while I was stuck in the Fukumaden with Riku said otherwise."

Rikari was bluffing through his teeth. One of the men in the room showed a sign of distress. He had green hair. Rikari took note of that.

"By the way, my name is Rikari Satio. I'm the other Byakko user in the Heaven-Style. Please remember me for next time. I'll be the one to defeat you for sure. Now then, I've got an equal to go cheer on. Could somebody direct me to the roof?"  
"Ah, yes. It's that way."  
"Thanks. I won't cause any trouble on my way out, but only because I'm bound by Riku's word in this case."

Rikari had reached the stairway to the roof around the same time as Miyuki.

"Miyuki?"  
"You?"  
"Okay look, I'm not here to fight today. I'm here on an errand for Riku. Are you going to the roof, too?"  
"Yeah."  
"Cool. I'll walk the rest of the way with you. Maybe I can get some insight on Yuuma."

And so they traded a few stories on the way up.

"Wow, he's actually a pretty cool guy when he's not busy being a dick to everyone."  
"Yeah. He gets that a lot."  
"Oh look, here we are. It's a real shame we couldn't have been on the same side, you're actually pretty cool."

Suddenly Grand Summon face off.  
Suddenly mysterious blue dragon Grand Summon.  
Suddenly Miyuki's Shikigami sacrifices herself to fix the situation. It ends badly. At least there was a pretty lightshow. Then Masaomi shows up and quickly ushers the party of Rikari and Riku off the roof. A little later, Souma throws a fit and gets himself slapped by Rikari, only to get a hug shortly thereafter.

Later, on the bus ride home...

"Rikari?"  
"Fuba-tan? Oh my god it's you! How've you been? Where's Fain-chan?"  
"Long story. She said something about going to visit you and I was about to go after here."  
"Does it envolve anything I've been sending you guys?"  
"Erm... Yes."  
"I hope to god you guys joined the Heaven-Style guild..."  
"Erm, we only found the so-called Drives. We don't know how to use them, so we haven't been able to play yet."  
"Well, that's a relief. I'll tell you both how they work when we get to Tenjinchou. She knows I'm living with Riku, right?"  
"Yeah."

Suddenly the bus almost crashes. The tunnel ahead appears to be blocked by a gigantic spider web.

"Oh god not more Youkai..."  
"Hey, Rikari, I think it might be a Youkai. Souma and I are going out to check."  
"Wait up!"

And so Fubari is left on the bus. But he doesn't stay on there for very long. Sortly after Rikari gets off the bus, Fubari follows him. Riku is running toward the Shikigami, Souma and Rikari flat on his heels.

"Shikigami! Summon!"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue flashy and full Summon Sequence. Three times.

"Byakko no Kogenta, Kenzan!"  
"Ikazuchi no Fusanoshin, Kenzan!"  
"Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!"

Shortly thereafter, a battle breaks out. Riku uses on of the In from the other day again, and Rikari actually makes note of it this time. On the way back, they find Fubari on the ground, dazed and confused after witnessing what just happened. Rikari helps Fubari back to the bus, and they go on their way. Eventually, morning comes.

"We're finally home..."

The weather outside was terrible. Riku still went to school that morning, even in this weather. However, since Fain and Fubari had shown up out of the blue, and with Drives, to boot, Rikari had to stay home on the virtue of formally introducing them to the Heaven-Style.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue very brief summon sequence.

"Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!"  
"Woah, cool!"  
"Fuba-tan, that doesn't even begin to cover it."  
"Anyway, this is a Shikigami. Mine is named Byakko no Sentsa, but people just call him Sentsa."

Fain and Fubari just stand there in awe for a good minute.

"Guys?"  
"Eh?"  
"Huh?"  
"You know, you could do something like this, too. Swing your drive in the following directions. [Shin-Kan-Da-Ri]."

And so they did. And then... something happened.

"Shikigami! Summon!"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue short summoning sequences.

"Seiryuu no Basara, Kenzan!"  
"Ikazuchi no Shinji, Kenzan!"

Rikari stares, dumbfounded for a few moments. The voices of the Shikigami reminding him of certain... people.

And then his phone goes off. This time it's The Wings of a Boy Who Killed Adolescence.. That can only mean one person. He answers the phone.

"Rikari?"  
"Tomas?"  
"Oh thank god you're alright. Youkai keep spawning everywhere and I'm having a bit of trouble dealing with them, are you availible to help?"  
"Oh, sure. We can call them all to the shrine at dusk and get rid of them in one fell swoop. We even have extra help today!"

Rikari eyes Fain and Fubari.

"Anyway, let's meet at the shrine around, say, 7 tonight, okay? I'll have the area warmed up through use of Toujinfu before you arrive, okay? Bye."

Rikari closed his phone.

"We have a busy night."

Rikari smiled as he looked at the newly christened Toujinshi. This was going to be fun.

Later, at the shrine, after all of the Heaven-Style allied Toujinshi in Tenjinchou plus Daichi and Teru had gathered...

"Let's get this party started!"

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue massive group summon sequence, followed by mass demon busting.

The next day, Rikari went to school with Fubari and Fain having joined him, having managed to transfer in for the new semester. They managed to end up in the same class as him by sheer luck. When Rikari comes home that day, he's found that Souma has not only purchased a laptop, but has also purchased a Gamecube, albeit it is still in the box.

"I'm not even going to ask how you got those, Souma. Anyway, I'll be up in my room with Fubari for a little bit so we can get changed. I sent Fain over to Momo's house in an attempt to have her make a new friend, too. When I come back downstairs, I'm setting that Gamecube up... I hope you bought games, too."  
"I did. Our choices are Sonic, Smash Bros. and Pokemon."  
"Sweet. I'm good at all of those!"  
"H-hey Rika?"  
"Fuba?"  
"Can we go get changed now? This uniform really clashes with my tastes."  
"Right."

So Rikari and Fubari went upstairs and got changed. Rikari eyeing Fubari's new outfit as he finished putting it on, much to the embarassment of Fubari.

"You really liked that design, huh?"  
"Y-Yeah. I figured it was pretty practical, so I ended up making myself one, too."

It was basically the same as version of Rikari's outfit, save for the shirt being a dull teal, accentuating his azure hair and blue eyes quite nicely. And something about no tanto in the pockets.

Eventually, the two came down from Rikari's room. Fain then stepped in the front door, earning a friendly whistle from Rikari.

"Wow, I never thought I'd get to see you wearing the same design."  
"Fuba-chan really insisted. After I made him add a skirt to it, along with making the pant legs shorter, of course."  
"Well, that's one way to make it work, I guess."

Fain was wearing a pink version of Rikari's outfit. It had a skirt attatched to the shorts, and the undershirt was a vibrant red, which complimented her lavender hair and pink eyes. She also wore the vest a bit more provacatively, having it partially unzipped to emphasize the most of what little she had of a chest for a girl her age.

So, the group of Fain, Fubari, Rikari, and Souma played Super Smash Brothers Melee for a bit, and eventually Masaomi showed up with food and a gunpla kit. Riku had since walked downstairs, watching the group for a bit, Nazuna having been downstairs the whole time, cheering for Fain, who was playing as Zelda. After allowing the current round to finish, Kirby's victory fanfare playing in the background, Masaomi spoke up.

"I'm not sure how helpful this is going to be, but I found this disc at the Earth-Style base. Thankfully, Souma has exactly what we need to look at it."

Three minutes later everyone in the house is grouped around the laptop being spoiled on the locations of the Shikimon.

"So anyway, we need to take care of these at some point. No pressure though."  
"Easy for you to say, Masaomi. You get to do the easiest parts of the job."  
"You flatter me, Rikari."

At some point, Riku, Nazuna, and Souma must have had a conversation about local attacks by 'wild animals', because Nazuna spoke up.

"Anyway, we've got an extermination to go preform tomarrow, so you guys should get some sleep."

Souma had also pulled out some newspapers, along with some information on his laptop recently. Maybe he'd already had it pulled up before the group got home.

"You can fill me in on the details later, Souma. I'm going to bed now."

Rikari then proceeded to drag Fubari upstairs with him, saying something about a group bath and Basara. Fain left shortly afterword, saying she was staying over with Momo for the night.

The next day...

"Yawn..."

Rikari sat up out of bed, blinking a few times. Fubari wasn't in the room.

"Where could he have possibly gone..."

Proceeding to get dressed, Rikari walked downstairs to find Fubari playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on the Gamecube.

"Oh. Right. I shouldn't have counted on any less. Are the others up yet?"  
"Only Souma."  
"Right. Where is he?"  
"He said something about going out for a little bit to grab some supplies."  
"Gotcha."

So, some time passed, and eventually the Heaven party gathered at the house, around 10 AM.

"Okay, so Riku, myself, Nazuna, and Souma are going to go preform an excorsism. Fubari, you and Fain stay here and act as support for Daichi and Tomas if they need it, okay?"  
"Understood."

Fubari began to reenter the house, but Fain grabbed his hood.

"Hey, why do we have to stay behind?"  
"Because. With your current experience paired with lack of In and Toujinfu, you're... Well, rather useless."  
"Seems legit."  
"I still don't like it."

So the party of Rikari, Riku, Souma, and Nazuna set off.

Later...

"Remind me why we didn't chain Masaomi down and force him to submit to our request to join us?"  
"Because he asked Riku to not let it happen."  
"He also said he had a date today..."

Suddenly, wild enemy Youkai. The battle ends quickly, with the extended party jumping through a nearby glade and landing face first in front of an Earth-Style Toujinshi and his Shikigami, who proceeded to make them lunch for no good reason. Shortly thereafter everyone was introduced in proper. The toujinshi's name was Subaru, his Shikigami being Tsubaki no Houshun. It turned out that he had no skills when it came to fighting, and that he had recently been orphaned by the Earth-Style. Eventually, Souma started teaching him how to fight, but then another wild Youkai appeared. But Houshun made short work of it before promptly getting shot. Rikari's expression at that moment was that of terror. Yet another innocent person had lost their Shikigami in front of him.

"Where. The HELL. Is the person. That ordered that?"

The perpetrator soon walked out of a nearby glade.

"He's lucky he only lost his Shikigami. I mean he couldn't even bust Youkai properly. And in the end he betrayed us for the heaven style."  
"You. You're Taizan!"  
"Souma? You know him?"  
"You know, you guys are being rather rude to me."

Suddenly, a Shikigami that looked a lot like Onishiba jumped forward from out of the bushes, pointing one of his guns at Souma, who was propping the unconcious Subaru up at that point.

"Yeah, but it doesn't really matter in the end though."

Rikari stepped forward, noticing the similarity.

"Hey wait, you're Onishiba."  
"Yeah. Do I know you?"  
"I thought you had a contract with Tomas."  
"Who's that?"  
"Tomas."  
"Never heard of him."  
"What do you mean, never heard of him!"

Rikari pulled out his drive, pointing it at this Taizan person.

"You have about five seconds to explain what the hell you did to Tomas before I cancel your contract with Onishiba myself."  
"I honestly have no clue who you're talking about."  
"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue abbriviated summon sequence.

"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"  
"Let's finish this quickly!"

A short battle broke out between Onishiba and Sentsa, ending when Taizan flicked a Toujin stone forward and ran away. Riku jumped in after him, and before Rikari even had time to react, the kimon that had spawned closed. However, the party had bigger problems to worry about besides worrying about Riku at the moment. They had to deal with a bunch of youkai.

A little while later...

"Okay. I'm more than a little pissed. Not only did Riku just steal my fire, but he left us to deal with a bunch of Youkai."

And then Momo came running up, saying that Riku had contacted her, saying he was in Shikoku. And with that, the group went home.

TO BE CONTINUED


	18. Chapter 15

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

Masaomi rides up to the Tachibana house with Riku in tow.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here we are."  
"Welcome back, Riku!"

Rikari had all but thrown open the front door.

"Well, don't just sit there you two, come in, come in!"

And so, Riku came inside, Masaomi in tow. Rikari had a few boxes of gunpla stacked in the living room.

"Sorry. I was worried, so I tried to keep myself busy with Gunpla."  
"Can I build this one?"

Masaomi was holding the 1:144 Impulse box up.

"Sure."

Eventually, a conversation about the Shikimon happens. Rikari forces him to spill what he's hiding, but it turns out it was just food.

So, a few uneventful days pass. The only thing to do is play games and go to school, really.

And then a letter from Teru is discovered in the mail. Rikari stayed behind this time, too. That night, a rather short excorsism is held again, with most of the Toujinshi in town plus Daichi collaborating together to make sure the town stays Youkai free. More time passes, and then 'Bring your family to school day' rolls around. Rikari and Riku go to the Fukumaden the day before and run into an enemy Toujinshi in the Fukumaden. Riku loses his temper, having a very, very, very sharp change in behavior and invokes the Grand Summon, Masaomi shows up to slap some sense into him, Rikari intercepting the slap, and then proceeding to punch Riku in the gut instead, and a soft noise is heard. Riku doubles over, clutching his side with one hand, still holding his Drive, and self up with the other before falling down completely in order to attempt to deal with the pain. Rikari is crying, his fist still clenched, a little bit of blood flowing off his arm.

"Urgh..."  
"You... You... You... YOU IDIOT! What the hell do you think you're doing? I thought you were the Heaven-Style Originator, not some guy that used their Shikigami as a tool for venting emotions! If you're not careful, I WILL take you out myself and proceed to take your place!"

Masaomi just stands there. Riku's drive ceases glowing as he drops it, Kogenta shrinking back to normal. The Fukumaden still falling apart after Riku's temper-tantrum.

"Anyway, we should get out of here. Now. You know, BEFORE the place falls apart."

Later, outside the Fukumaden, at the shrine.

Riku sits up. Rikari pulls out Riku's Drive, handing it back to Riku.

"Here. This is still yours."  
"I... I... Sorry."  
"No. I should be apologizing. I let that guy lead you into a trap earlier because I wasn't paying enough attention. More importantly, I had to have bruised you, because appearantly I just broke my wrist."  
"Surprisingly, I feel fine."  
"Well that's great because I think I'm probably going to be late for the 'bring your family to school day.' Make up an excuse for me while I go the hospital and get his treated."

And so the day ends. Rikari comes back in the middle of class the next day, it was appearantly only a really bad cut from the Moon Magatama, which had somehow slipped out of Riku's jacket. A week or so of resting it and it should be fine, the doctor had said. Luckily, there was a repreive in attacks from Youkai and Earth-Style Toujinshi.

More time passed.

Just after the Rowing Prefectural tourament...

Suddenly, Wild enemy Crayfish, and a wild enemy Canary. Thankfully, Rikari had gotten his splint off the day before.

A battle broke out. One of the enemies did something to their Drive and invoked a Grand Summon. Riku had a moment, and then came up with an improvised In by using the Dotou Zankonken three times. Shortly after the battle ended, Kogenta's sword broke.

Later, at the shrine...

Kogenta is clearly restraining a nervous breakdown after his sword broke earlier.

"Well, it's broken, isn't there a way to fix it?"

Sentsa shrugs. Masaomi shows up.

"You could always to go Mount Yuukai. There's a Shikigami 'smith that lives there."

The conversation goes from there.

The next day, the rowing club, Souma, and Nazuna head to Mount Yuukai by bus. When they get there, the driver comments on acid rain before giving them all unbreallas. Eventually, the group wanders into a cave, a Shikigami greeting them. It turns out he's the 'smith they've been looking for. Shortly thereafter, the Saikaidou Kotetsu is tossed in the furnace located in the back of the cave, the party minus Kogenta and Riku heading back to help. The furnace has six oars attatched to it.

"Erm... I can't exactly do this myself, so I'm going to need you guys to row."

The shikigami assigns elements to everyone but Souma. Wood to Nazuna, Fire and Earth to Ryuji, Metal to Momo, Water to Rina, and Gold to Rikari. Souma sits aside for a bit and then Koroku has him join in too. This goes on for a little while, however, eventually, the Saikaidou Kotetsu is reborn, Fusanoshin taking it to Kogenta and Riku, who proceed to curbstomp the enemy over at the shrine in the middle of the lake. Shortly after that, the weather in the area returns to normal.

A few more days pass, and Souma gets a call saying his mother's vanished from the hospital. He proceeds to go search for her. In the middle of the night, more Youkai spawn, with Rikari, Riku, and Nazuna busting all of them. Masaomi shows up shortly after they get home and tries to take Riku to the third Shikimon, only to have Rikari shove his way into the portal with them. They end up at the third Shikimon, Riku engaging the Toujinshi and defeating him, barely. After that, things get complicated.

Riku is in a state of shock. Rikari sees him handing the Moon Magatama over to Masaomi.

"SURPRISE!"

Rikari runs in, tackling Masaomi, Sentsa moving to strike Kibachiyo, who promptly blocks a sword slice with his spear.

"You thought you'd knocked me out, hadn't you?"

Masaomi attempts to get up off the ground, only to meet one of Rikari's tanto. Kibachiyo has since been forced into a corner. Riku gasps, clearly shocked at this development, dropping the Moon Magatama that he had previously pulled out, Kibachiyo quickly overpowering Sentsa and grabbing it.

"MOTHERFU-"

That's as far as Rikari gets before a swift blow to the shoulder. Sentsa vanishing back into Rikari's Drive as he drops it.

When Rikari's come to, Masaomi is gone, and Riku is crying, hugging Kogenta on the ground.

"Ugh... What happened..."

Rikari sat up, quickly realizing part of what had just happened.

"I feel like a rock..."  
"We got betrayed by Masaomi. Also, Riku's asleep, so you might want to be quiet."  
"Damn that Masaomi. I knew I shouldn't have taken my eyes off of him today!"

And then Teru flew in on Isoroku. The party then went straight for the Grand Kimon at the Earth Style HQ.

TO BE CONTINUED


	19. Chapter 16

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

"No... Why... Is this... No. It can't end here. We never reached the end of the rainbow Sentsa. You can't leave yet. Not until we've reached it. Together."

eight-fold.

YOUR WISH HAS BEEN HEARD.  
SYSTEM: 'PHANTASM' ACCESS: GRANTED BOOTING 'PHANTASMAL' DRIVE PROCESSES...  
Rikari's broken Drive begins to glow.

"What the..."

ENGAGING FUNCTION 'SYNCHRONIZE'...

* * *

Rikari still felt like a rock. On the way to the Earth-Style HQ, they had been ambushed by a gigantic Youkai, which Isoroku and Teru were currently fighting off.

The top floor. Earth-Style HQ.

"I'll rewrite your contract..."

Rangetsu's name begins to flow out of his body. A pair of Tanto fly at Mikazuchi.

"That won't be nesscsary, you scum! Shikigami Summon!"

Cue two brief summon Sequences.

"Byakko no Kogenta! Kenzan!"  
"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"  
"You're both late."

Suddenly, Bits. Bits everywhere.

"Fufufufu. It seems that both the Heaven and Earth-Style Originators are here. Along with an uninvited guest."  
"Who're you calling uninvited? Did you forget who I was, you senile old man?"

Cue speech from Riku that nobody cares about. Cue friendly banter and Yuuma being a lone wolf. The trio launches an attack from all three sides, however it is blocked. Yuuma invokes an In, but it ends up being nullified. Riku proceeds to do the same thing, but Rangetsu ends up having to nulify it because it misses. Eventually, all three Toujinshi invoke their strongest attacks, the enemy just absorbed them like a sponge, however he went down. And then Yuuma declared a battle royale. Except it turned out Mikazuchi wasn't defeated.

Suddenly beamspam. Suddenly names vanishing. Suddenly broken drives and DESPAIR.

"No... No... No... Why... Is this... No. It can't end here. We never reached the end of the rainbow Sentsa. You can't leave yet. Not until we've reached it. Together! You promised!"

A tear is shed. More follow as Rikari's hands begin to shake.

"No... this can't end yet! It won't end! I'll even follow you to Naraku if I have to!"

Rikari's style ranker flashes purple, exploding as it reforms momentarily.

eight-fold.

YOUR WISH HAS BEEN HEARD.  
SYSTEM: 'PHANTASM' ACCESS: GRANTED

BOOTING 'PHANTASMAL' DRIVE PROCESSES...

Rikari's broken Drive begins to glow a bright purple, strings coming out of it, reclaiming the name that had just come out of it, which had just reappeared.

"What the..."

Suddenly, it reconstructs itself. The resulting new Drive is primarily gold with white as the secondary color and purple as the tertiary color.

Riku and Yuuma resummon their Shikigami. The sequences are flashier than ever.

ENGAGING FUNCTION 'SYNCHRONIZE'...

"Summon me, Rikari!"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"

When Rikari held out his drive to summon Sentsa, instead of the usual blue seal, a purple one appeared.

Sentsa appeared from shogi doors in front of him, wearing, of all things, parts Rikari's outfit along with his old one, the vest being the most prominent feature, with shoulder pads that seem to have changed a bit.

"Byakko no Sentsa, Kenzan!"  
"Surprise wardrobe change?"  
"They told me I could be anything. So I became a new Sentsa."  
"Very well. Let's do this."

A one versus three battle begins between the Sakashiki'd Mikazuchi and the trio of Toujinshi.

"AND THEN GOD SAID: LET THERE SWORDS!"

As he said that, Rikari moved his Drive. An In was clearly invoked, however. And then there was a storm of swords around Mikazuchi.

"Hissatsu! Maboroshi no Ken Sutomu!"

That had only done surface damage. Rikari was sure of it. Then Riku and Yuuma attempted to use the Mirror Move Sealing In, which, despite being neat, only made things worse. After wrecking the body of the Sakashiki'd Mikazuchi, a gigantic ghost came out.

"Once more!"  
"Understood!"

A medal shot out of Rikari's Style Ranker, landing in his drive.

"[Ri!-Kan!-Ri!-Ri!]"  
"Hissatsu! Shin Maboroshi no Ken Stutomu!"

Kogenta, Rangetsu, and Sentsa attacked at the same time. Characters appeared, and vanished. The day had been saved. Mizuki had a moment with Mikazuchi. The Auska family had it's reunion. Rikari's legs gave out as he fell flat on his ass.

"Whew. Is it really over?"  
"It looks like it."

Rikari could see Nazuna was talking to Riku. After getting up, he joined them.

"So, shall we go home?"  
"Yeah. Let's go back."  
"Back to Tenjinchou."  
"Fubari and Fain should be waiting for us, after all."

So the party of Nazuma, Riku, and Rikari went home. A few weeks passed. Gundam SEED Destiny had just finished up last week.

"So. Now what? We reached the end of the rainbow, just like you wanted."  
"No Sentsa. We've barely just reached the sight of it. Let's go outside and join Riku at the shrine."  
"Yeah. Sure."

So Rikari headed towards the shrine. On the way there, he ran into a collapsed Yuuma. It was mid day, so he had the time. Why the hell not?

"Hey. You. Why are you passed out here?"  
"Ngh..."  
"I SAID WAKE THE HELL UP, YUUMA."

Rikari pulled Yuuma up and shook him.

"You walked all the way here. And from the looks of things, you did it barefoot, too! What the hell?"

Yuuma forced himself up.  
"I've got a goal to accomplish. Get the hell out of my way."  
"Not until you let me treat at wound on your face and get you some shoes!"

There was a standoff. It lasted for all of five minutes before Yuuma caved.

"Fine. You win."  
'Good boy.'

It was nearing sunset. Rikari had forced him into mecical aid and bought him new shoes, but he had finally reached the Tachibana shrine. Yes. It was time to settle the score.

"You two are going to fight. Aren't you..."  
"Of course! We were meant to!"  
"I guess I can't stop you then..."

Rikari moved to the shrine steps. Daichi was there watching, too.

"What kind of contract did you even make, Asuka Yuuma...?"  
"That's a good question."

Kogenta and Rangetsu had been summoned, and had been beating the pulp out of each other for the last five minutes. As amusing as it as to watch, Rikari felt sick to his stomach watching it. What kind of fight was this? Therre was no soul envolved in it. Only brute force. Truly a fight with no meaning.

Both sides were lying on the ground, struggling to get up.

"Alright. This is over. Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue short summon sequence.

"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"

In an instant, both Shikigami were on the ground, immobilized by Toujinfu that Rikari had thrown moments before.

"You two are done fighting now. I won't allow another moment of it. Heaven and Earth were never meant to fight in the first place."  
"Why you!"  
"Yuuma! What did you even make your contract with your Shikigami for!"  
"I-I-"  
"He has a point, Yuuma."

Rangetsu had turned around at some point, and was now facing Yuuma.

"I-"  
"I won't lend you my powers any further if you're simply obsessed with getting stronger."

Rangetsu then faded to ethereal, going back into Yuuma's Drive.

"What did you just do?"  
"I used my head. I was getting sick of seeing the leaders of the Styles fight over nothing. So either get on my level, or leave, Yuuma."

Suddenly, the Shrine emitted a blue glow, and out came Yakumo, saying something about the devil being ressurected.

And then the sky started to break. It was like the world was turning into a Fukumaden. At one point, Yuuma left without Rikari noticing. But that was okay. He wasn't going to be fighting against them anymore.

And then Youkai came out of the shrine. This was the beginning of the longest day ever.

TO BE CONTINUED


	20. Chapter 17

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

"They're coming!"

~SWEETER THAN THE~

"Hissatsu! Kogentsgenbu!"

~FEELING OF A~

"Hissatsu! Maboroshi Keri Odori!"

~FEVER SO NOw, WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO?~

"Riku! Keep cutting the In!"

~SWEETER THAN THE~

"Right!"

~FEELING OF A~

"Rikari! Put more effort into this!"

~FEVER SO NOW, WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO?~

"Already got you covered, Partner!"

~I suck emotion with some style and class~ ~Got an ultra sonic gaze that can break your devotion in two~ ~I've just been searching for a road off the map, but I feel my body breaking as if I'm going crazy~

"GO DOWN!"

~JUST STAY the way that you are~

"There's no end to them!"

~I'LL TAKE the blame for it all~ ~Gotta feel this emotion in me~

"Riku, I get the feeling we're going to need to take this to their turf soon!"

~I GOTTA FEEL IT... OH AND THE DEVOTION~

"Yeah, but what about Nazuna and your friends, along with Yakumo?"

~JUST STAY the way that you are~

"They'll be fine! I'm relatively sure they can handle themselves!"

~I'LL TAKE the blame for it all~ ~Gotta feel this emotion in me~

"Hello? This is Tomas."

~BEEN FEELING LIKE I CANNOT GO ON BUT I DON'T WANNA GET OFF!~

"Understood. I'll assist them right away."

~JUST STAY the way that you are~

"We'll be back soon enough guys, so don't worry, okay?"

~I'LL TAKE the blame for it all~ ~Gotta feel this emotion in me~

"Hey you two, where are you going?"

~I GOTTA FEEL IT... OH AND THE DEVOTION~ ~I'll never run away, no one can stop me~

"Right. I'm comming too."

~GOTTA FEEL THIS EMOTION IN ME~

"Fine."

~BEEN FEELING LIKE I CANNOT GO ON BUT I DON'T WANNA GET OFF!~

Today had been slow after what had happened last night. They all busted at least one hundred Youkai each last night, but only Rikari and Riku had gone into the Fukumaden, with Daichi joining them. Shortly after entering the Fukumaden, Rikari and Riku ended up becoming separated, not exactly by choice either, but at least Daichi had managed to stay with Rikari in his persuit of Masaomi, who had shown up right after they dispatched the welcoming party. Utsuho had ordered him to retreat shortly thereafter.

"Damn. We lost him."  
"We almost had him, too."

And so, Rikari and Daichi wandered for a bit.

"I know you probably don't want to do this, but you're probably going to get forced into a contract if you don't do it sooner or later. So, Byakko no Daichi, so how about it? Why don't you become one of my Shikigami?"  
"You know what, it looks like the world's ending, so sure, why not? I'll form a contract with you, Rikari."

Daichi then turned into a red light and went into Rikari's drive. At which point, Rikari noticed that his drive had a map function and proceeded to find Riku, plus one Yuuma, who had since regained the ability to summon Rangetsu again, along with a much less annoying attitude. In the middle of a flower field, with a collapsed Jin-Style Toujinshi nearby, both shikigami still out.

"Well, you're really late."  
"I'm glad to see you're okay, Rikari."  
"Did I... Miss something?"  
"Yeah. We just curbstomped a Jin-Style Toujinshi."  
"By the way, Yumma?"  
"What?"  
"When did you suddenly get Rangetsu back?"  
"When I decided to swallow my pride and accept Riku as an ally."  
"It's good to know that what I said way back in Kyoto, and then again in Tenjinchou finally got through to you."

An enemy toujinshi then walked out of the bushes.

"It seems we have a person intruding on this moment we're having. Who wants wreck him?"

The toujinshi is Masaomi.

"Oh wait. It's just Masaomi."

Cue short battle, with the group getting separated. Again.

Later, Rikari comes to, still in the flower field, minus one Riku and one Yuuma.

"Damn, we can't get a break today, can we?"

Rikari stood up, pulling out his Drive.

"Shikigami! Double Summon!"

Cue double shogi doors as both of Rikari's Shikigami emerge from them.

"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"  
"Byakko no Daichi! Kenzan!"  
"Alright, let's find the group."  
"Hey wait, what's up with my fur? Why's it turned red?"  
"It's probably because of his new drive. It happened while we were in Tokyo raiding the Earth-Style base. My clothes changed too."

And then Youkai spawned.

"Hey guys? We have company. Let's focus on getting rid of it and move on."

Cue Youkai busting, followed by wandering for a while. Eventually Rikari encounters a group consisting of one Souma and one injured Yakumo.

"Alright, somebody explain to me why you two are here. Is Nazuna here too?"  
"We were on our way to rescue her. Ugh..."

Yakumo clutches his side. Souma is clearly irritated. After a little bit, and few occasions of Yakumo collapsing and eventually telling Rikari and Souma to leave him behind for the time being...

~Tell me baby do you remember... The moment your eyes had met mine~

~Tell me baby do you remember... The second your hands had touched mine~

~For the first time I had heard... What love is really about then~

~I LOVE YOU SO~

"Hey Rikari... What is that song you've been singing?"

Daichi materialized.

"Do You Remember Love?. It's from a SDF Macross. I felt singing it might lighten the mood a bit. Of course it helps that my Drive ate my cellphone earlier, which was also my MP3 player, so I had lyrics to go with it."  
"And that explains all this extra stuff floating around in here."

Sentsa also materialized. The trio then had a small moment of laughter, much to the confusion of Souma. Shortly, the duo of Souma and Rikari stumble upon a dilapadated shrine. Along with a wild Youkai, Nazuna and Horin. Souma quickly busts the Youkai and then the shrine turns alive as the group flees from it. A battle quickly breaks out after the group has landed, with Horin and Fusanoshin being sortied while Daichi and Sentsa gaurd the party. Isoroku and Teru also show up, but that's after the battle is over. Shortly after that, Rikari leaves the group, saying he's going to go back and check on Yakumo.

When he arrives at where Yamuko was...

"That boy can't stay still for even a moment, can he? Well, I guess I-"

Then there's a loud noise and a flash from a beam. Rikari immediately heads towards it and finds Masaomi and another Toujinshi. Yakumo looks as if he's at the mercy of the enemy Toujinshi.

"So! How long were you planning on fighting alone, Yakumo?"  
"Rikari?"  
"Yeah. I'm here to help!"  
"Well, now I know I'm not losing!"  
"Shikigami! Double Summon!"

Cue Double summon sequence.

"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"  
"Byakko no Daichi! Kenzan!"  
"We're more than a match for both of you!"

And so a battle breaks out.

"Let's settle this in one blow!"

And then Kibachiyou's Master Drive attack interrupted the moment.

"And there goes my attempt at being a hero."

The Miko turns into a mass Youkai and vanishes after that, with a small scene occuring behind Yakumo and Masaomi over how the Miko was a false being, the real her still being sealed up. And then weird stuff started happening with the sky, the character for nothingness suddenly appearing en masse. Yakumo stood back up at some point, and then used himself and his shikigami to create a seal in the sky.

"Well, now what?"

At some point, Rikari had gotten behind Masaomi.

"Isn't it obvious? We go kick the shit out of Utsuho after we find Riku and Yuuma, and also after we find Souma, Nazuna, and Teru. You're comming too, Masaomi. I won't let you out of my sight this time."

And so Rikari dragged Masaomi with him as he went to reunite with the rest of the Nazuna-Souma-Teru party, however, while crossing the flower field from earlier, Taizan showed up. Cue curbstomp battle, ending in Taizan and Onishiba being utterly defeated by Rikari, Sentsa, and Daichi while Masaomi quietly escaped. Rikari proceeded to collect Taizan's drive after that.

"Damn. He slipped away while I wasn't looking. I guess he'll show up eventually."

After a little bit, Rikari found the party. And then Yuuma showed up, just as a giant enemy crow attacks, along with his Toujinshi. The crow is quickly busted by the combined efforts of Yuuma and Rikari by use of a combination In.

"Is it me, or is Utsuho really not even trying anymore?"

Rikari yawned. He had been up for eighteen hours now.

"I'd like to think that he gave up, but that's probably not the case."  
"Where've you been by the way, Yuuma?"  
"I was stuck on a nearby beach for a bit."  
"'Kay. Let's go find Riku now so we can beat Utsuho."

And so Yuuma and Rikari left the group to go find Riku. They reach him just as his battle with Raihou is ending, with Yuuma sending out Rangetsu to save Riku from the Youkai that was Raihou moments ago.

"Well then. Let's go find Utsuho and crush his plans!"

TO BE CONCLUDED


	21. Chapter 18

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

"Byakko no Kogenta! I hearby con-"  
"Byakko no Kogenta. I hearby succeed your contract with Tachibana Riku."

This was it. They were at Utsuho's base. It was time for the final battle. And yet Rikari felt like something very, very, very bad was about to happen.

"Rikari, what's wrong?"  
"Nothing Sentsa. Nothing."  
"If you say so..."

After a period of time, the party of Riku, Yuuma, and Rikari had ran into the center of Utsuho's base, having already sortied their shikigami to deal with the Youkai that had popped out when they opened the doors.

"I'll at least listen to why you're here."

Utsuho had flown right up to the group.

"I'm Tachibana Riku, the Heaven-Style Originator."  
"I'm Asuka Yuuma, the Earth-Style Originator."  
"And I'm Satio Rikari, but I'm not even sure what style I am anymore."

Suddenly, scenes from previous wars flash by the group.

"This is what I've had to endure watching for the last thousand and two hundred years. Are you three really fighting to protect this?"  
"As if I care! I'm fighting to protect my friends in the here and now! You're nothing but a monster!"  
"WHAT IS A MAN? A MISERABLE PILE OF SECRETS. BUT ENOUGH TALK, HAVE AT YOU!"

Utsuho flew backwards.

"Also, I'll be taking the contracts of your Shikigami back now."  
"What."

For a few moments, all four Shikigami writhe in pain as their names appear before Utsuho has to cease his attempt in order to defend from a multicolored beam that shoots past the party from behind. Utsuho falls back as the Jin-Style subjugation team consisting of the Crayfish Toujinshi, Nazuna, Souma, and Teru steps forward.

"We'll act as support now!"

However, no matter how many Shikigami they bust, they just keep respawning. Eventually, Utsuho breaks the names of all but four of the shikigami, the shikigami being Kogenta, Rangetsu, Sentsa, and Daichi. Yuuma and Riku attempt to do the Mirror Move In. Utsuho redirects it. And then Masaomi and Kibachiyo come in from behind to interrupt it.

"Where the hell have you been, Masaomi!"  
"Sorry for making you wait. I was doing some soul-searching."  
"Well, that's good and all, but we still need to beat this guy."  
"Right."

The group holds their drives foreward.

"Let's go, everyone!"

The Shikigami charge forward. Utsuho proceeds to call fourth Grand Summoned Shikigami.

"Riku! Asuka Yuuma! Let's defeat Utsuho with the power of the Master Drives!"  
"Hey! What does that make me? Chopped liver? I'll have you know I have a Master Drive too!"

The four toujinshi begin cutting In. A battle breaks out, and this Grand Summoned Shikigami quickly go down.

At which point Utsuho somehow manages to Grand Summon all five of the present Shikigami, which shouldn't be possible. More In are cut.

"Let's finish this in one shot!"  
"Right!"

The Grand Shikigami go down easily. More In are broken, and a Ritual is invoked as the five shikigami don new uniforms and form a pentagram around Utsuho. He squeals.

"No... I don't want to be alone again... Don't make me go back there!"

Riku flinches.

"No! Stop! Stop! Stop! Get away!"

The sealing ritual is interrupted by Riku, justifying it by saying that they're repeating the same mistake that was made a thousand and two hundred years back.

"I don't think you people even have a grasp on what I've been through. I was sealed up in the Fukumaden, forced to remain conscious, for a thousand and two hundred years. DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE SEEN?"  
"So what? Are you done throwing your pity party yet?"

Rikari had walked up to Utsuho while he had been talking.

"G-Get away from me!"

Utsuho backpedals, tripping and falling backwards.

"No. I know that humans are idiots, and that you have a grudge. But you have to deal with it. You're not special. You probably didn't even have the ability to control the Four Skies on your own. Hell, you're probably also a Toujinshi for having done so. The world's going to march on regardless of what you do."

Rikari offered his hand to Utsuho.

"So. Are you going to finally move on?"

Utsuho went wide-eyed, tears beginning to flow down his face. Rikari turned around when he heard Kogenta's voice.

"So Utsuho, you got your wish. All of us Shikigami have appeared before you once more. What are you going to do now?"

Turning back around, Rikari offered his hand to Utsuho.

"So, are you going to go back to your village with Masaomi?"

Utsuho pushed Rikari's hand away, smiling, his body showing signs of rapidly aging.

"Sorry. I've just plain gotten tired of living. But my faith in humanity is restored now, so I know it's okay for me to move on now."

At some point, the characters in the sky had ceased their advance, and had vanished. The world was going back to normal. However, the sky was now breaking.

"Oh right, we're still in the Fukumaden. We should get out of here."

The party plus the Jin-Style Subjegation team, Nazuna, and Souma, and minus Masaomi hopped into a shogi door that appeared.

"Hey wait, what about Yakumo?"  
"I'll get him. Don't worry."

And then the shogi doors shut. The party reemerged in the real world.

A few days passed. Riku, Rikari, and Nazuna went on a trip to a place located in the mountians. Yuuma, his father, and Yakumo joined them shortly after they arrived. Then Masaomi showed up.

"Hi~"

He threw a Toujinfu, the character for Jin showing up. And then everybody was in a flower field. An unsealing ritual was preformed. Much happiness was had, and then the group went to the Taihaku shrine, where Masaomi and his villager friends went back to their own time.

When Rikari and Riku got home, there were letters addressed to Riku and Rikari respectively. Riku's was from his Grandfather, Rikari's, a memo from Fubari and Fain, letting him know they'd went back home.

A few days later, Riku went to the place in the letter, Rikari opting out of going in favor of paying a trip to his hometown.

When all was said and done, Rikari found himself in front of Riku's house.

"I guess I really don't have anywhere else to go."

Rikari went inside and sat at the table.

"It was fun while it lasted."  
"Indeed. But you don't need to worry, there'll probably be another enemy to fight someday. They tend to pop up every now and again."  
"By the way Rikari, is there any way for me to return to human form?"  
"Oh right, you've been stuck like that for a while..."

Rikari pauses for a few moments.

"I wonder if that would work."  
"What would work?"  
"We're going to the shrine."

At the shrine.

"Shikigami! Summon!

Cue single shogi door, with Daichi popping out.

"Byakko no Daichi, Kenzan!"

He turned around, looking at Rikari.

"What are we doing here, Rikari?"  
"Daichi, your surname is Yuuma, right?"  
"Yes."  
"Very well. Yuuma no Daichi, I hereby release you from your contract!"  
"Woah!"

Daichi turned into a red light, splitting in two, a Shikigami and a human appearing from them, a drive falling down in between them.

"Wha- What just happened?"  
"I figured that releasing the human Daichi would work, only the Shikigami Daichi is bound to me. Or rather, was bound to me. It appears he's bound to you now. I guess that means he needs a new name. How about Byakko no Akatsuki?"  
"That's a nice name. More importantly..."

Picking up the newly formed drive, Daichi faced Rikari.

"Th-Th-Thank you Rikari!"

Daichi was crying tears of joy as he jumped at Rikari, tackle-hugging him, the newly born Shikigami standing there with a blank expression on his face.

"Let's get you home now."

After that, few days passed, Rikari was now alone at the Tachibana house, save for Sentsa, who was out of the drive the whole time to keep him company.

~I know, I know I've let you down~

~I've been a fool to myself~

~I thought that I could live for no one else~

~But now, through all the hurt and pain~

~It's time for me to respect the ones who love me more than anything~

~So with sadness in my heart, I feel the best thing I could do~

~Is end it all and leave forever~

~What's done is done, it feels so bad~

~What once was happy now is sad~

~I'll never love again, my world is ending...~

Tears begin to flow down Rikari's face.

~I wish~

~That I could turn back time~

~'Cause now the guilt is all mine~

~Can't live without the trust from those you love~

~I know, we can't forget the past, you can't forget love and pride~

~Because of that, it's killing me inside~

More tears.

~It all returns to nothing~

~It all comes tumbling down tumbling down tumbling down~

~It all returns to nothing~

~I just keep letting me down letting me down letting me down~

Rikari clenches his fists.

~In my heart of hearts, I know that I can never love again~

~I've lost everything~

~Everything~

~Everything that matters to me matters in this world~

He feels horrible.

~I wish~

~That I could turn back time~

~'Cause now the guilt is all mine~

~Can't live without the trust from those you love~

~I know, we can't forget the past, you can't forget love and pride~

~Because of that, it's killing me inside~

What else is left?

~It all returns to nothing~

~It all comes tumbling down tumbling down tumbling down~

~It all returns to nothing~

~I just keep letting me down letting me down letting me down~

After all, now life was going to go back to normal.

~It all returns to nothing~

~It all comes tumbling down tumbling down tumbling down~

~It all returns to nothing~

~I just keep letting me down letting me down letting me down~

The front door opens.

"We're home!"

Rikari quickly wipes up his tears and puts on a cheery face.

"Welcome back!"

A few days later, during the night, at the Tachibana shrine.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye."  
"Yeah."

Riku pointed his Drive at Kogenta.

"Byakko no Kogetna! I hereby re-"  
"I, Satio Rikari hereby agree to succeed the contract of Byakko no Kogenta."

At some point, Rikari had jumped out of a nearby tree and pulled out his drive, connecting it to Riku's Drive, his expression not visible.

"Sorry, but I can't have you abandoning your best friend yet, Riku."  
"I'll hold onto his contract until you're ready to take him back. Just give me a call using your drive, and I'll be there in an instant. In the meantime, I'll be wandering around the Fukumaden. Tell Fain-chan and Fuba-tan for me, Daichi too! Okay?"

Rikari moved his head up, tilting it slightly, a smile with tears showing. He then walked over to the shrine and held out his drive, the Kimon opening.

"W-Wait!"

A flash. Rikari was gone.

"I never got to thank you..."

Four years later, in the Fukumaden...

Rikari took off his cape, sitting down next to Sentsa and Kogenta, having decided to take a break in the field of the four seasons.

~There are a lot of things that don't turn out as I'd expect~

~Even though I don't want to completely sacrifice them all~

~At the moment when I touched your kindness~

~Any pain is calmed~

~I chase an unfinished dream~

~If I'm with you I can go, towards that rainbow~

~At times the road may be steep, long, and painful~

~If it's the two of us we can go, to an unimaginable future~

~Look your way, a shining world of impossible situations is anxiously awaiting us~

~At times, even if a sad and lonely night comes, the two of us will continue to think of each other~

~No matter what kind of fate~

~Gets in our way~

"You never did explain what your deal with that song was."  
"Each line describes a few of our companions."

And then Rikari's drive began to glow.

"That must be Riku! Well, you know what time it is! Let's get going!"

Yes.

Back to the real world.

ONMYOU TAISENKI ~ RIKARI

MAIN STORY

-end


	22. Route split! Heaven or Phantasm?

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

It's been four years since the end of the World-breaking incident. Rikari is sixteen now. He's just been called back to reality by his glowing Drive.

What will happen next? Will he lurk for a bit before rejoining Riku? Or will he show up immediately when called?

Find out soon, when Chapter 19 ~ Phantasm, and Chapter 19 ~ Heaven are posted! 


	23. Chapter 19 Phantasm

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, The A Destined Friendship arc belongs to Zaix-fukutaicho, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

A.D. 2009

It had been four long years since he'd been in Tenjinchou.

Rikari took a breath of fresh air as he stepped out of the Tachibana shrine, where Riku was standing there, in front of him, Drive in hand. Come to think of it, had he always had that priest wear? And why was it the middle of the night?

"It's been a long time, huh?"  
"Yeah."  
"So, what do I owe this occasion to?"  
"Well, you see, I met a guy, and I think he might need help. Our help."  
"I see."

Rikari drew his Drive out.

"Byakko no Kogenta, I hereby cede your contract to Tachibana Riku!"

A blue light proceeded to come out of Rikari's Drive, and entered Riku's Drive, the characters for Byakko no Kogenta appearing on the screen once more.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Cue full summon sequence.

"Byakko no Kogenta! Kenzan!"

Kogenta turned around.

"Hey there... Riku."  
"Kogenta... It's been a long time."  
"Indeed. Just look at how much taller you've gotten!"

Riku now stood at equal height with Kogenta.

"So... Who is this new guy? Is he a toujinshi, too?"  
"I'm not sure yet. I'm planning on inviting him over today after school."  
"Let me guess. You want me to actually attend school today?"  
"Well, that's a blunt way of putting it. I already took the liberty of enrolling you, after all. School just started last week. I would have called you here sooner, but stuff happened. Like grandfather going on another trip without me. AGAIN. I mean at least he told me where he was going, but still."  
"Sucks, man. Anyway, I'll oblige you and go to school. Is it safe to assume you've kept my room as it was... how many years back?"  
"Four. And yes. Everything is as it was."  
"Cool. I'm going to have to go to town and buy new clothes, though. I'm pretty sure that everything that I had back then won't fit now..."  
"Haha, you're probably right."  
"I'll have to email Fuba-tan about resizing and mending my vest, too. It's taken a beating since I left. Anyway, let's go back to the house for now, I'm tired and haven't slept in a decent bed in four years."

And so, the party of Rikari and Riku went back to Riku's house, where they found Daichi waiting for them.

"Well, somebody's grown up."  
"Hey, it's not my fault somebody decided to up and vanish from the world for four whole years. Of course a few things are going to be different."

Laughs were had. The party went inside.

"So what happened after I took you home, anyway?"  
"My parents were ecstatic. They thought I had been dead for over a year, after all. They asked me all sorts of questions, including where you'd gone off to, and I ended up getting grounded for a month. I've been training with Akatsuki ever since then, too!"

Daichi brandished his red and white drive. Akatsuki materialized, his fur still the same as the red with white stripes from when Daichi and him had been the same being in Rikari's Drive so long ago.

"So this is Rikari?"  
"Yeah. He's the guy that saved us back when you and I were still the same person."

Akatsuki floated towards Rikari, examining him.

"Hmm..."  
"What, are you surprised to see me?"  
"I do vaugely remember seeing someone like you when I first came into this world."  
"I'd hope so. I was the one that had the idea to split you two up. I didn't expect a contract to immediately occur though."

Rikari's Drive started making noises.

~I had a glass ball but it fell to the ground~

~I went to go and chase it but I dropped one more~

~There's just a single one that remains, shining in one sunny spot~

Rikari proceeded to press a few buttons on it, and held it up to his face.

"This is Rikari."

"Oh, okay. I'll be over in a bit."

"You're lucky I'm actually in town for once, or I'dve made you come to me. Anyway talk to you later."

Rikari set his Drive down after pressing a few buttons, an interface screen materializing above it moments later.

"Well, it's been a while since anybody's called me."  
"Wait what. Your Drive doubles as a phone?"  
"Yeah. It got a whole bunch of cool functions after it ate my phone when it turned into a Master Drive way back then. Whoever made these things way back when must have been thinking really far ahead when they did."

Picking up his Drive, Rikari stood up.

"Anyway, I think I'm going to take a bath now. And then go to bed. I'm relatively sure that you have school tomorrow too, Daichi, so what are you still doing up?"  
"I snuck out when Riku said that he was going to go call you back from the Fukumaden."  
"Makes sense."

Rikari walked upstairs. Tomarrow wasn't going to be easy, he'd been missing for four years according to most of the world. Only the Toujinshi and old rowing club knew the truth. Shortly, Rikari was in the bath, having summoned Sentsa to groom him again. Time passed differently in the Fukumaden, so those four years had gone by like that, and they really hadn't ever needed to stop to eat, only rest.

"Hey Sentsa..."  
"What is it?"  
"What if... I made the wrong choice in running away from reality four years back?"  
"You may very well have. But that's not for me to decide."

~Love prevents you from realizing 'Love is too much of a burden'~

~Before it turns to hatred~

~That's always how it works, isn't it?~

~Covering up all the circumstances of consequences~

~A false reality~

~In this era of twisted dilemmas~

~Even the two that had exchanged vows~

~Pass by each other without even realizing it~

"I haven't heard you sing that before. Is it new?"  
"It's actually two years old. I've been keeping in touch with the world to an extent through what my drive let me do."  
'So that's why the files that were floating around in the drive changed so often... He missed his friends and everyday life, even if he never showed it.'

The rest of the time in the bath was spent in silence. After a little bit, Rikari snuck out of the house to go and meet with the person he'd been on the phone with before returning home and going to bed.

The next day, at school...

"I know it's a little late, but let's have you introduce yourself, Satio-san."

The teacer motioned Rikari to come up to the front of the room, Rikari writing his name on the whiteboard.

"Hello everyone! I'm Satio Rikari. I know I'm a week late, but please try to overlook that!"

He bowed towards the class. Somehow, Ryuuji, Momo, and Rina had all managed to get into the same class as him and Riku, so at least he knew some of his peers. There was also a person, who he couldn't seem to discern what he was thinking. He liked this person. During class, he seemed to let on that he was relatively smart, too.

After class, outside the school...

Rikari had just finished packing up, barely managing to beat Riku and that Zaen guy out the door.

"Rikari! I'm going to go invite Zaen over now! Don't wait up for me, okay?"

An hour passed. Riku got home about ten minutes after Rikari, who had since changed into his only casual wear that he had left after four years, minus his vest, which he still needed to get fixed.

"Zaen will be over in about an hour, Rikari. I don't think he knows that you live with me, so try not to surprise him, okay?"

Scrambling around for a little bit, Riku had somehow managed to get changed and still had talk.

"Would you mind helping me make dinner? I'm still a lousy cook, after all this time."  
"Um, sure. Don't think it's going to be anything like Nazuna's cooking though."  
"I haven't had any of it in ages."

The duo shared a laugh. Rikari got up from the front table and went into the kitchen to start dinner.

"Anything in particular you want me to make, Riku?"  
"Not really."  
"Udon it is then! I hope you have noodles!"  
"I don't."  
"Well, you do have beef and vegetables. Shame on you for no eggs, but at least you also had rice. I'll try and make something with that."

And with that, Rikari set up the kitchen. When he was done, Zaen still hadn't arrived.

"Hey Riku, when's Zaen supposed to get here again?"  
"Well, it's almost been an hour, so probably within ten minutes or so."  
"Okay, well, I'm going to be out front in a tree then. Dinner's ready, so set the table, if you will."

And with that, Rikari was out the door and up the nearest tree in the front yard, summoning Sentsa in the process.

"So, Sentsa. How was your first day in a long time at my school?"  
"I should be asking you how your day went. You had your Drive in your hand for most of the day. Is something bugging you?"  
"Well, sort of. It's just so unreal that so much time has passed without me being here. It's almost like a dream."

Spotting that kid from earlier, whom he was assuming to be Zaen, Rikari snapped out of his nostalgia, unsummoning Sentsa.

'It seems our guest is here.'

At which point Rikari's Drive played the same ringtone from earlier, prompting Rikari to fall out of the tree in surprise.

"Ow..."

It was Tomas again, except this time it was an email. Rikari sat up, enabling the holographic keyboard function, typing a slightly irritated response, and then went inside the house. Riku wasn't present in the room at the time, but a very lonely looking Zaen was.

"I'm back... Hey, wait a second, where'd Riku go?"  
"I didn't know you lived here..."

Rikari flinched. This kid sounded really depressed.

"Yeah. I've been living here since Riku and I were in sixth grade. Is there a problem?"  
"Not really..."  
"Good. Now perk up already!"

Rikari looked at the plates that Riku had set out. His portion hadn't been served yet, and Zaen's hardly looked like it'd been touched.

"Hey, why aren't you eating, anyway?"  
"Sorry... I don't eat very much. Only when I have to, normally."  
"Look, you're as pale as a sheet. I know you don't want to, but you really need to eat. I can gaurantee this is better than anything he can make, at least without help anyway."

Rikari sat down at his spot, not even bothering to serve himself at the moment. Riku walked back in the room at that point.

"Where were you?"  
"Fixing my hair."

Kogenta appeared.

"That's code for he was talking to me."

Rikari turned back to Zaen.

"So yeah. I really hope that you enjoy the meal. I'll be outside if you need me."

Having gone outside, Rikari got back up in the tree, laying down on the same branch from earlier, this time taking care to NOT fall off it.

"Well, I like to collect things... And I like to sing..."  
'I think I'm going to get along with this guy.'  
"Ah!"

Rikari still fell out of the tree when he heard Zaen's scream. Recoiling, he quickly threw open the front door, his Drive in his open hand, ready to summon Sentsa and cut In at a moment's notice.

"What happened? Did an en-"

Rikari took a few seconds to process the situation. Zaen was staring directly at Kogenta, a Drive in his hand. Rikari facepalmed, sighing.

"Sorry. That was a response that would have been appropriate a long time ago."

Rikari quickly resheathed his Drive.

"Might I ask for an explaination of what just happened?"  
"We've come to the conclusion that he has a Drive and can see me."  
"And now the version that isn't from the Shikigami?"

Riku proceeded to give Rikari a somewhat more detailed explanation before taking the group towards the shrine. On the way, Rikari had pulled out his drive, enabling the holographic interface again, this time, turning on some music, which somehow played from the device, despite it not having a single visible speaker.

~There are a lot of things that don't turn out as I'd expect~

~Even though I don't want to completely sacrifice them all~

~At the moment when I touched your kindness~

~Any pain is calmed~

~I chase an unfinished dream~

~If I'm with you I can go, towards that rainbow~

~At times the road may be steep, long, and painful~

~If it's the two of us we can go, to an unimaginable future~

~Look your way, a shining world of impossible situations is anxiously awaiting us~

~At times, even if a sad and lonely night comes, the two of us will continue to think of each other~

~No matter what kind of fate~

~Gets in our way~

At some point, Zaen had slowed down his pace enough for Rikari to notice.

"Hey, Zaen. Is my singing bugging you?"  
"N-no. It's just..."  
"Oh, you must just not like the genre. That's fine."  
"It's not that either..."  
"I'll just plug in my earbuds and listen on my own for now... Actually, I'm going to run ahead. See you guys when you get there!"

Rikari had run ahead. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that he might have just hurt Zaen more instead of attempting to help him.

A little while later...

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Kogenta's summon was just as flashy as ever. He had even retained his look from four years ago, albeit part of that was because Rikari had kept his contract in his drive for those four years.

"Byakko no Kogenta! Kenzan!"  
"Wow... He's... Beautiful..."

Kogenta just stood there for a few moments, his face turning red in the process.

"This is even more akward than that time I had to beg Rikari to save me from the freezer that one time..."

Rikari chuckled. Zaen had walked forward and was shaking Kogenta's hand by this point. Rikari then jumped down from the roof of the shrine.

"So, are we just going to stand here all day, or are you going to summon your Shikigami?"

"O-oh. Right."

Zaen then held out his drive, quickly becoming surrounded in shogi doors for a few moments before reemerging.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

A shogi door appeared inside a gigantic crystal, which had also spawned. The crystal quickly shattered as the doors opened to reveal a silver and black furred Byakko-type shikigami that looked an awful lot like Kogenta had back in the day, the difference being the color scheme, which was black and white, and his lack of sandals, and a tail bell, which was just a crystal instead. He stepped out, gracefully landing on the ground in front of Zaen while crystal shards gradually fell to the ground, making for an amazing entrance.

"Byakko no Ruleo! Kenzan!"

Zaen just stood there, as if he was in awe of Ruleo.

"You finally released me... I'm glad."

Ruleo turned to Kogenta and Riku.

"I thank you both for your kindness."  
"And what about me?"

At some point, Rikari had walked over to Zaen, and was now offering his hand to him.

"So, you're another Byakko user, huh? I'm Satio Rikari, the Phantasmal-Style Toujinshi, It's a pleasure to meet you."

Zaen just stood there for a few moments before he reluctantly took the offered hand.

"I-i-it's nice to meet you, too. I'm Lucaster Zaen."  
"More importantly..."

Rikari connected his drive to Zaen's. Both screens glowed for a few moments before Zane's drive displayed the characters for "Firmware Updated" on the screen, at which point the drive changed shape a little, having made accomadations for earbuds on the bottom.

"Here's my contact information. Now you should be able to get in touch with me at any point. Also, I hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and gave you an upgrade program. If you have a cell phone, you can just place it in proximity of your Drive and have it assimilate with it, too."  
"Thanks... I think..."  
"By the way, do you know any In?"

Zaen stared at Rikari for a few moments.

"He's talking about skills for Shikigami. You do movements with the Drive. Here, I'll show you in a mock battle."

Riku pulled out a Toujinfu and threw it, the character for teleport appearing in front of the party. When the flash had subsided, they were in a realm with floating shogi doors, just like whenever they got into a Shikigami battle before. Rikari held out his drive, a small runic circle appearing in front of the drive.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Shogi doors appeared in front of Rikari, Sentsa stepping out of them once they opened, drawing Setsumaru from a mini-shogi that appeared to his side.

"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"

Rikari stepped forward.

"Now, we're having a mock battle, so try not to actually kill each other, okay? Killing your opponent three-fourths of the way is, however, acceptable."  
"Understood."  
"Okay!"

A battle between Sentsa and Kogenta breaks out shortly thereafter, with Riku and Rikari viciously cutting In, countering each and every move that's made. The area turns into an earth field shortly thereafter from all the elemental energy that's being released at once. Eventually, Rikari doubles over, panting.

"Damn, Riku, how is your maximum chi STILL more than mine, even after I spent four years in the Fukumaden training?"  
"I don't know, honestly."  
"Anyway, I'm willing to call this a draw for now. As for me, I'm taking a nap."

And with that, the toujinshi battlefield slowly fades back into reality. Rikari is now lying on his back, fast asleep.

"Do those battles really take that much out of you guys?"  
"Only if they go on for extended periods or if we cut so much In during a short period that the field changes. Most of the time, this would only happen in the Fukumaden, though. He's been in there for four years without exiting once, so I'd expect that his chi recovery would probably be dampened a bit however. His pool is probably a lot bigger than mine by now, too."

A while later, Rikari came to, back at the house. Daichi was sitting against a nearby wall.

"Ngh... What happened? That last thing I remember was announcing that I was at my limit and then the color black..."  
"Well, an enemy attacked, but Zaen and Ruleo fended them off... Well, that's what Riku said anyway. You've been out for a good day or so. You're lucky it's the weekend."

Rikari breathed a sigh of relief. Only a day had passed.

"He called me saying that he needed somebody to keep an eye on you while you slept in case the guy decided to come back while he was out."  
"Did he tell you where he was going?"  
"Nope. Sorry."

TO BE CONTINUED


	24. Chapter 20 Phantasm

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, The A Destined Friendship arc belongs to Zaix-fukutaicho, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

"Well, what are we doing today, then? The options that we have are:

A). Spend time with Souma.

B). Spend time with Daichi.

C). Spend time with Tomas.

D). Spend time with both Souma and Daichi.

E). Spend time with both Souma and Tomas.

F). Spend time with both Daichi and Tomas.

G). Spend time with Souma, Daichi, and Tomas.

and then Karaoke night after any of the above, and since Riku's out still, depending on when he gets back, invite him, and Zaen too, since Zaen's not answering my messages".  
"I elect for option B."  
"Of course you would, Daichi. You're one of the choices."  
"Why not just go with option G?"  
"Because I don't know if Tomas is availible. I'm relatively sure he's in college by now. The only time he's bothered to contact me since I came back was on friday morning, too. But I really do want to go with that option, Sentsa."

After a little bit of time passed, complete with Daichi whining, Rikari decided to go with option D, picking up his drive and enabling the interface in order to call Souma.

Ring Ring...

Ring Ring...

Ring Ring...

"He isn't picking up..."  
"Daichi, be patient. He's probably busy."

Ring Ri-

"Hello? This is Asuka Souma."

This was not what he was expecting. Souma's voice seemed to have turned into Yuuma's voice over the last four years.

"Souma? It's me. Rikari."  
"Really? Why am I not inclined to believe that a person who fled four years ago would be contacting me now, of all times?"  
"Because I coerced your brother into joining our side way before we beat Utsuho with the power of friendship. That and I was the one to beat that guy to a pulp when he insulted you back when you first met Riku and I, unlike in that anime that you had funded, with Tomas and myself cut out. You certianly changed a lot of what happened, Souma."  
"I stil don't know if I can trust your word. Give me actual proof."  
"You really suck at Super Robot Wars. You also used my Drive colors as the palette for the main character's drive in the arcade game. That and I'm calling you from my Drive. If Yuuma's with you he can probably confirm this."  
"I'm the CEO of Mikazuchi's company now, you know? However, that settles it. And I'll have you know I've gotten better since then, though. Anyway, to what do I owe this momentous occasion?"  
"Riku called me back like I told him to. It just took him a while."  
"That's an understatement. You've been gone four years."  
"So I've been told. Anyway, we should really do something today, along with karaoke tonight."  
"Oh god, I don't remember the last time I went and did that. I'm actually free tonight, so I guess I could reserve us a place. Did you plan on inviting anybody else?"  
"I was going to invite Daichi, Tomas, Fubari, Fain, Yuuma, and if they've shown up in time, Riku and Zaen."  
"Zaen?"  
"Some guy that goes to Riku's school that just contracted a Byakko."  
"Ah. By the way, how did you get my personal number?"  
"I improvised and used your email. You know, the one that you had me add to my Drive back when you first got a phone right after Mikazuchi messed up the seasons?"

Daichi, overhearing this, having been in the same room, albeit constructing a 00 Gundam at the time with Akatsuki out to make sure he doesn't screw up, makes a comment.

"Is that even legal...?"  
"Probably not."  
"Oh be quiet you two."

"Oh, sorry. I've got Daichi with me right now. Riku went out right after I passed out on friday from exausting my Chi in a mock battle. Anyway, how does going shopping for Gunpla sound for now?"

"Great! I'll bring Daichi along and take the train there!"

Later, at the train station in Tokyo...

Souma was wearing a yellow and red tank-top along with green cargo pants, much like the ones he wore when he was living with Riku and Rikari four years back, save for the fact that they were styled more like Yuuma's clothes now. He still had his ear piercings, too.

"Daichi, is that Souma?"  
"Yeah. It's quite a surprise, huh? He looks a lot like Yuuma, at least from the photos I've seen."  
"At least he still dresses close to what he used to."  
"HEY! SOUMA! OVER HERE!"

Souma turned toward the duo, facepalming at what Daichi had just done.

"Oh for the love o-"

And then he noticed Rikari without his vest, which had thrown him for a loop. It didn't help much that his hair was red now, either.

"Oh! There you guys are!"

He was now walking over to join the group.

"I didn't recognize you without your outfit, and your hair color's changed!"  
"Wow, did I really forget to dye it before I came out in public?"

Rikari shot a glance at Daichi, who threw up a shrug.

"Anyway, I wrecked my vest in the Fukumaden, so I'm going to get it to Fuba-tan soon enough so he can fix and resize it. Surprisingly though, my pants are quite durable, so they're still in perfect condition."  
"Well then, let's get going to the gunpla store then! I have more than enough money to spare on them now anyway, and you kind of rubbed off on me while we were living together."  
"And that's where all my unassembled gunpla went... I'm assuming?"  
"Yeah... sorry about that. If it's any comphensation, I can get you duplicates of those ones."  
"Riku and I also partook in a few of them, too, just saying. That was a fun day."  
"It's fine, really."

Rikari had that glint in his eye. He was going to enjoy today.

"Anyway, there's an arcade nearby, and I had something I wanted to show you, no, both of you!"

"Oh boy! Is it that?"  
"Yeah. It's that."

Rikari made an about face.

"Um, what?"  
"You'll see when we get there after the Gunpla shopping!"

After that, at the Gunpla store...

"Wow, they have so many new ones!"  
"Hehe! Take your pick!"  
"Hey, Souma. Can I get this one?"  
"Erm, Daichi, that's a tad big. Could you try and find something a bit smaller?"  
"Oh alright. I'll go get the Hobo-Exia instead..."

And so time passed. Tomas responded to Rikari's email, saying he was coming along later, but was busy with class at the moment and couldn't join them until then. The trio ended up buying a complete set of Gundam 00 season 1 1:144 Gundams, and what the could of the 00 1:144 Gundams from season 2 because Souma is rich. Rikari was... exctatic afterwords, to say the least. The Gunpla were set to be delivered to Riku's house the next day, too!

"Okay, now that we have that out of the way... We should go to the arcade!"

Souma all but dragged Rikari and Daichi to the nearby arcade, and upon entering, went to the counter near the entrance, asking the clerk about something, and then comming back, looking really excited.

"Okay, so we're going to have to wait about ten minutes, but after that I have something REALLY REALLY REALLY cool to show you, Rikari!"  
"I guess we could play Guilty Gear or something for ten minutes..."  
"Erm, Guilty Gear got phased out for Blazblue."  
"We can do that instead, unless you want me to show you how to play Dodonpachi or whatever CAVE's latest schmup is. They still have that, right?"  
"If by BEES ON FIRE AND BULLETS EVERYWHERE: THE GAME, then yeah. But Daichi and I both suck at it."

Souma and Daichi had immediatelly vetoed in favor of Blazblue. Ten minutes passed, and a staff member came by to get Souma's attention, who in turn grabbed Daichi and Rikari. Shortly after that...

"Oh my god."  
"I know, right?"  
"Oh my god."  
"I know right?"

Rikari's expression was that of a kid in a candystore. Souma had somehow commissioned a Toujinshi-style fighting game, with all the shikigami that he could get the data on present in the game, and then some! They even had voices!

"How this caught on is beyond me."  
"It had help. The really fictionalized anime adaption certianly helped, though."  
"Define fictionalized."  
"I kind of had to remove you, and Tomas from the picture, mainly because I wasn't fully in charge of the script because too much exectutive meddling is kind of viewed as a bad thing, even with milages varying. Even Daichi's role was pretty changed compared to what actually happened."

Another staff member came up with three eyepieces. For some reason, they reminded Rikari a bit of a certain shonen/fighting anime that got adapted at one chapter per episode at some points. She also had what looked like Drives, too.

"Here are the Scanning Drivers and Drives you'll be needing, sirs."  
"I can show them what to do from here."  
"Understood. I'll be manning the control station then."

The attendant left.

"You need to put the Scanning Drive on your ear, with the lens going over one eye. Use the Drive like you normally would, and please do try to select your Shikigami since they seem to not be displaying the movelist for this version, you'll be wanting every advantage you can get."

After the group had managed to get themselves set up, Rikari and Daichi went up on stage. Souma went to watch from the front, where a crowd was now gathering.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! We have a Toujinshi battle that is about to begin being displayed on screen number one! On the blue team, we have Satio Rikari, and on the red team, we have Yuuma Daichi! Both competetors look fairly competenet, so let's get started!"

INITIALIZING BATTLEFIELD...

The area around Rikari and Daichi cracked like glass, shattering into a million pieces as the familiar shogi-filled battlefield appeared. They could still hear the audience, but could no longer see them.

ACCESSING SHIKIGAMI DATABASE. PLEASE SELECT YOUR CHARACTER.

Rikari searched for, and found after inputting the access code that Souma had passed to him, Sentsa's character, with his normal palette.

BYAKKO NO SENTSA, CONFIRMED... DOWNLOADING UPDATE NOW... DOWNLOAD COMPLETE. PLEASE SUMMON YOUR SHIKIGAMI.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Rikari flipped open the Controller Drive. An entry animation played, and Byakko no Sentsa entered the virual battleground through shogi doors. The audience made a noise of excitement. It was as if he was beta-testing a new character or something.

"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"

The voice sounded like it'd been done by somebody really skilled, since they managed to replicate Sentsa's voice really well. He'd have to ask Souma about it later. Looking across the stage, he saw Daichi had selected Akatsuki and was now summoning him.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Shogi doors appeared on the battleground, Akatsuki walking out of them.

"Byakko no Akatsuki! Kenzan!"

A few moments passed, an actual intro occuring after a short loading screen. The music for the stage was appearantly called "Battle On! Ichi". The words BREAK THE IN flashed on screen, in full-blown english to boot. Phase Shift 1 also appeared on screen shortly after.

ACTION!

Right out the gate, Rikari started cutting Sentsa's In.

"[Shin!-Kan!-Da!-Ri!]"  
"[Shin!-Ri!-Da!]"  
"[Ri!-Shin!-Kan!]"

The Vitual Sentsa unleashed a flurry of kicks at the Virtual Akatsuki, who quickly parried with his sword, canceling Rikari's attack, but not managing to harm him, due to the dodge command that Rikari had tossed in right after his attack. This went on for a little while.

"Thought you'd be able to beat me at this, huh?"  
"Yeah, actually I did. Pay attention to the little bar at the bottom. See how mine's full and yours isn't? That's bad."

Daichi swung his Drive.

"[Kan!-Da!-Kan!-Kan!]"

Rikari somehow know what was comming, and that he couldn't stop it. This was clearly Akatsuki's finisher Hissatsu In. He could at least attempt to defend, though. He struck the symbol for defense with his drive, barely missing his window of time to defend from the attack, a different song breaking out as a glorious display of CGI occured. The area was bathed in flames as Akatsuki flew past Sentsa several times before landing behind him. Sentsa collapsed as the text for HISSATSU FINISH, and then AKATSUKI - WIN appeared on the screen before fading to black, a new version of the battlefield appearing to replace it, this time in a gold area, with both characters standing back up.

BREAK THE IN...

Phase Shift 2

ACTION!

Again, Rikari cut In, this time managing to barely beat Daichi, but without a Hissatsu Finish banner appearing on the victory screen.

The tiebreaker round was next... He had to win this one and prove his time in the Fukumaden wasn't just running away.

BREAK THE IN...

Final Phase Shift

ACTION!

Rikari and Daichi were motionless for a few moments before Daichi began his assault, Rikari constantly playing defensive and using minor In to deal small amounts of damage while farming that gauge at the bottom of the screen. When it hit 100...

"[Ri!-Shin!-Ri!-Ri!]"

Rikari had cut it so fast that Daichi hadn't had the time to react and the game had barely recognized it. Sentsa proceeded to dash foreward with Setsumaru in his hand before it made contact with Akatsuki. After that, he backflipped, pointing up with his free hand, a fairly large number of swords appearing in the sky, the chorus of PULSE playing in the background.

~JUST STAY the way that you are~

"AND THEN GOD SAID: LET THERE BE SWORDS!"

~I'LL TAKE the blame for it all~

Sentsa pointed towards Akatsuki. The swords flew towards him, almost certianly skewering him to death, HISSATSU FINISH flashing on screen. After the sequence was over, Akatsuki fell to the ground, with a SENTSA - WIN banner flashing on screen. After that, the Shogi arena fadded, Rikari and Daichi finding themselves back in the arcade, Souma at the side of the stage as they both exited, the crowd cheering.

"Wow, I didn't expect that you'd catch on so fast, Rikari. I thought I was going to win for sure."  
"Yeah, well you made a mistake by telling me about my chi gauge. Otherwise you'dve won."  
"I wouldn't expect any less from the guy that curbstomped my brother AFTER being demoralized and somehow managing to demoralize him instead. TWICE."  
"You act as if I did something monumental..."  
"You did."

Rikari flinched, realizing that Yuuma was standing behind Souma. His outfit had changed a bit, since he was now wearing a vest on top of his old outfit, the vest being a bright red. It cut off at his midriff.

"Yuuma! When did you get here?"  
"Souma called me in the middle of the match. I barely had enough time to get changed before I came over, and boy was dad not happy about my leaving in the middle of a meditation session."

Yuuma then seized Souma and was now messing up his hair.

"Alright, alright, I get the point! I'll come home and apologize for the abruptness of it later! For now, we have dinner and karaoke to go do!"

When the party went outside, they found Fubari and Fain waiting for them. Fubari then promptly told Souma that he'd been able to get in contact with Riku earlier, and that he and Zaen were going to meet them at the restraunt.

"All according to plan..."

Souma rubbed his hands together, as if he had an evil plan. Rikari thought something might be up, but this was karaoke night, so who cared?

Later, at the restraunt...

"Sorry we're late! Stuff came up."  
"If by stuff, you mean constant ambushes by rouge Toujinshi, then sure."  
"Kogenta! You didn't need to announce that!"  
"We can talk about it later. You and Zaen came at a perfect time! We were in the process of drawing lots to see what order everybody would be going in for karaoke. Fain-chan was going to sing a solo, and then with Fuba-tan, Yuuma was going to sing a solo, Tomas was going to sing something with me, I was going to sing a solo, Souma and Daichi were going to sing something, and we still needed you guys to give your input. Note that I may or may not draft Zaen into something if he doesn't choose something, too."

And so Zaen ended up getting drafted to sing with Rikari, with Riku going last.

It was Fain's turn first. She went up on stage. Quickly, a backdrop consisting of a blue VF-20 in walker mode appeared in the background, the music starting up.

~Everyone! Embrace each other to the ends of the universe!~

The music proceeds into the actual song.

~The water's surface ripples, a ring of wind gushes out~

~Where our fingertips meet, there comes the blue spark~

"So, how've you guys been since I left, anyway?"  
"Well, I've managed."  
"We missed you."

~KIRA!~

Fain had moved her hand to her face, making a handsign and causing several people in the restraunt to verbally go 'HNNNNNNNNNNG'

"You showed up shortly before I tried to give up Rangetsu. How do you think I've been?"  
"Oh right. I suppose I should give him back now after this. No hard feelings, right? Because he's pretty much been asleep this whole time."  
"Not really, even if that is against his character."

~And the galaxy shall flourish within our souls~ ~And the galaxy shall flourish within our souls~

And with that, Fain stepped down from the stage to grab Fubari, so they could sing.

~Baby tell me what to do~

~I have been waiting patiently on standby~

~Want my heart and want my love~

~Know your sweet kiss... Kiss... Kiss...~

Rikari asks what everybody has been up to. Riku and Zaen both say school. Tomas says college. Souma says he's been managing the financial side of the Earth-Style. Yuuma says he's been managing the Asuka shrine.

~How fantastic to be with you, my love~

And with that, Fain and Fubari step down from the stage, Yuuma going up shortly, the backdrop of a scopedog cockpit appearing behind him on the stage.

~On I go, searching for the past that was stolen from me~

~Wandering on through this city, so strange to see~

~Choked by the scent of flames that seems to~

~Cling to me~

Rikari pulls out his tattered vest. Fubari asks what happened. Rikari makes a few comments and Fubari is clearly irritated, but Rikari somehow manages to calm him down.

~Oh, will tomarrow hold something new to see?~

Yuuma then leaves the stage, his face red, and Souma cheering, leaving the stage open for Tomas and Rikari, who proceed to the stage, the cockpit of a VF-19-Kai appearing behind them, both of them taking deep breaths.

"ORE NO UTA WO KIKE!"

The song bursts into action.

~LET'S GO and run into the morning glow~ ~That we once dreamed of~ ~It's still far away, though...~ ~MAYBE, it'll be alright if we keep our love all the time~

Souma is talking to Zaen. He's probably trying to get to know him, but Zaen isn't letting him in.

~Growing emotions are aerodynamic~ ~Totsugeki LOVE HEART~

And with that, the song is finished. Tomas leaves the stage while the backdrop changes to that of a stage in front of the Macross.

~In my dreams I hear your voice calling out to me, saying "Darling come here"~

~But then I wake up, feeling my heart begin to wane~

~Somehow, I can see your sillouette in the dark, comming closer to me~

~When I close my eyes and wait for you~

Now it seems Fubari and Fain are trying to befriend Zaen. Fubari is barely having a little more luck than Fain.

~I LOVE YOU SO~

Then, Souma and Daichi go up on stage, the backdrop changing to a red Shogi door before opening up to reveal the Shinkenger opening as Rikari leaves the stage.

~CHAN CHAN BARA CHAN BARA BARA~

~CHAN BARA BARA CHAN BARA~

~SAMURAI SENTAI SHINKENGER~

And now it seems that Zaen is trying to leave, but Fain won't have any of it and has seemingly made a bet with him. This is going to be fun.

~SAMURAI SENTAI SHINKENGER~

Then Fain pretty much shoved Zaen up onto the stage after Souma and Daichi left it while Rikari casually strolled up onto it.

"I'm sorry if she did anything to make you mad. I'll reprimand her later if you want."  
"No, it's okay, really. I'm just not used to having... So many people around that actually care."  
"Well, I guess that's kind of good?"

The backdrop changes to that of Vector Sol.

"Well then, shall we get started?"  
"Um... Sure."

The music starts up.

~On the first day of the world~

~Underneath the Tree of Life~

~The two of us heard the voices of whales~

~Reverberating from afar~

Souma is busy chatting up a storm with Fubari, he's probably telling Fain and him about the expansion to the Toujinshi Drive arcade game from earlier. The chorus of the song breaks out. Souma also seems to have pulled up a chart on his laptop screen, which he probably pulled out at some point.

~For ten thousand years and two thousand more~

~I've loved you~

~After eight thousand years~

~I loved you even more~

~For another hundred million years and two thousand more~

~I'll still love you~

~From the first day I knew you, the music in my hell has never stopped~

With that, Zaen's face turns red as he leaves the stage with Rikari. He's probably embarassed beyond all reason at had what just happened. Surprisingly, when Riku gets to the stage, the backdrop just vanishes.

"I hope you appreciate this Rikari, I've been practicing since you left."

The backdrop changes to a shogi door, which opens up to reveal the opening of the anime that Souma had commisioned, the characters for Onmyou Taisenki appearing on the logo.

~There are a lot of things that don't turn out as I'd expect~ ~Even though I don't want to completely sacrifice them all~ ~At the moment when I touched your kindness~ ~Any pain is calmed~ ~I chase an unfinished dream~ ~If I'm with you I can go, towards that rainbow~ ~At times the road may be steep, long, and painful~ ~If it's the two of us we can go, to an unimaginable future~ ~Look your way, a shining world of impossible situations is anxiously awaiting us~ ~At times, even if a sad and lonely night comes, the two of us will continue to think of each other~ ~No matter what kind of fate~ ~Gets in our way~

By the end of the song, Rikari is cheering. Riku steps down from the stage, blushing. After that, the party actually has dinner, and after exchanging drive comm. links with Rikari, Fain, Fubari, Tomas, Yuuma, and Souma go back to the arcade, leaving Zean, Daichi, Rikari, and Riku to go back to Tenjinchou for the night.

On the train ride home...

"Oh, right, Riku. I went shopping with Daichi and Souma today, and we got a lot of Gunpla. It should all arrive tomarrow. I figure if we're not busy with training or fighting, we should have a group homework session and build some of them."  
"I... Actually support this idea."  
"Well, if Zaen's okay with it, I don't see why not. Besides, I'm STILL bad at math."  
"My character writing isn't the best, but you don't see me failing any classes."  
"That's because you've been gone for four years."  
"Yeah but what was my worst grade when I was here?"  
"It was in P.E."  
"Yeah. Do you know why?"  
"Is it because your body is rather weak?"  
"Zaen, you get plus one respect for being able to guess that. Fortunately, I got over that issu-"

Rikari yawns, then promptly passes out.

"Hah! Got over the issue my ass!"

Kogenta materializes, causing Zaen to recoil.

"Kogenta! That was rude! He's had a long day, you know."  
"Riku, I've been living with him for four years. His endurance hasn't gotten much better since then. I mean sure, he's gotten better at managing his Chi, but still. He hasn't even learned any new In."

Sentsa materialized.

"That's because the In that you're supposedly talking about are my ONLY normal In. Everything else is a unison attack, and it's only with Byakko-types, with the exception of Kibachiyo, and we don't even know where Masaomi is at the moment, let alone Kibachiyo."  
"Oh, if you're wondering where he is, he showed up for a bit after you guys left, but left again after that. Although he did say he'd resolved his contract with Kibachiyo, so he might be in Naraku now. We can ask Yakumo more about it tomarrow after school, if he's availible. I'm relatively sure Rikari has his contact information. Can you confirm that?"

Sentsa dives back into the Drive for a few moments. Then he comes back out.

"Yes, he does."  
"Great. It looks like we've got our week planned out for us already."

TO BE CONTINUED


	25. Chapter 21 Phantasm

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, The A Destined Friendship arc belongs to Zaix-fukutaicho, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

5:30 AM. Rikari's room.

Eternal Wind began playing from Rikari's Drive, an flashing icon of Sentsa alternating between sleepy-face and awake-face appearing on the screen.

~Almost like shards of sorrow...~

Rikari slowly picked the Drive up to stop the music, sitting up in his futon to stretch afterwards.

"Ahhhh... I feel great this morning."

Getting out of bed, Rikari noticed what he assumed was his new school uniform folded up on the floor next to the door.

"Riku must have slipped in at some point. I guess I'll have to get used to wearing stuff like this again... And while I'm at it I should probably get some silver hair dye on the way home today."

Rikari fumbled around with the clothing for a little bit before getting it on correctly, then found a pocket to put his drive in during school on the inside of his jacket. Heading downstairs, he found that Riku was already awake, and cooking breakfast.

"Well, you're up awfully early."  
"You're one to talk. You passed out on the train ride home last night."  
"Ehehe... I blame all the excitement. And the fact that I had an ACTUAL mock battle before the karaoke dinner."  
"Mock battle... Oh! you must be talking about that game that Souma pretty much funded all the way through."  
"Yep. The best part was that Sentsa was in the game, albeit as extra content. I'm relatively sure I gave the crowd quite a surprise when I used him."

Rikari sat down at the table.

"By the way, what are you making for breakfast?"  
"Well, since we didn't have eggs until last night, I couldn't have made you a proper meal, but now, we do, so I figured I'd try my hand at making something using boiled eggs."

The pot containing said work-in-process eggs was beginning to boil over.

"Want some help?"  
"Ehehehe... Sure."  
"Well, first thing's first. You're cooking them at too high a temperature. If the water boils over then there's almost certianly something wrong..."

Getting up to take a look, Rikari was pleasantly awarded with the fact that the eggs hadn't broken yet.

"And that's one thing you're doing right. Say, I know I lived here for about a year, but I never did find an egg timer lying around. Do you have one? They really help when you're making these."  
"No. I don't."  
"Well then, I'll have to fix that when I go to buy my hair dye after school. By the way, just out of curiosity, were you going to go do something with Zaen today?"  
"Yeah, why?"  
"Okay. That means I have the afternoon to myself... I mean as much as I'd like to join you guys, I kind of still need to take care of getting resettled... Maybe I should find Masaomi too if he's still around."  
"Understandable... Oh, but I don't know where Masaomi would be. He probably went back to his own time again."  
"Really? How were he and Kibachiyo doing?"  
"He'd resolved his contract with him, but otherwise fine."  
"So wait, do we know where Kibachiyo is now?"  
"He's probably in Naraku. You could always go looking around at the shrine for his Drive and find out, though. I'm pretty sure that he left it there when he left for the second time."  
"And that's another thing to add to my to-do list..."

Rikari pulled out his Drive, pulling up the holographic GUI, then pulled up his to do list for the day to add another task to it, a small chibi Sentsa with a happy expression appearing when he'd done so.

"I still wonder how you managed to do that."  
"Came with the upgrade. I think it's because it ate my phone and went into overdrive."  
"I guess that works."  
"Anyway, I'll prepare the rest of breakfast now. Don't worry."  
"Thanks... Despite things going back to the way they were before for four years, my cooking still never got any better."

And so the morning went on. Eventually the party left for school, meeting up with Zaen on the way.

At school, just before class...

Ruleo was looking at the classroom with a very confused look on his face in his euphemeral form.

"Oh, right. This is your first time in a school, isn't it?"  
"So that's what this place is called. Noted. How long are we going to be here for?"  
"You'll get used to it eventually. As for how long... well it's better to say it doesn't last very long."  
"Heh. Kogenta was pretty impatient when he first had to deal with this."  
"You stay out of this Sentsa!"  
"Wanna fight about it, Kogenta-chan?"  
"-Chan? What the hell?"

Sensing trouble, Rikari quickly intervened in the argument.

"Now you two, calm down. We're in a school, and I don't want to deal with you guys fighting like always on my first real day back."  
"I don't wanna."  
"Too bad. If you don't, I'll have to punish you again after school, regardless of what Riku thinks of it."

Kogenta immediately went back into Riku's Drive, with Riku, who was talking to Zaen the whole time, giving Rikari a 'What the hell did you do to him' look.

"Oh relax I only..."

Rikari walked up to Riku, whispering in his ear. Riku made a few faces ranging from 'do not want' to 'okay flat what'.

"...And that's how I made him submissive to me."  
"I didn't need to know that. More importantly, how did you even manage to do that?"  
"That's a secret."

At which point class started.

Later, during team games...

The game of the day was volleyball. Riku, Rikari, and Zaen had formed a team and were currently up against a kid named Sai, along with two other kids from class whose names Rikari hadn't bothered to learn. Rikari pegged Sai right away with a shot to the left shin.

"Whoopsy. Did I do that?"

Rikari was openly mocking him while walking under the net and over to him to help him up, quickly pulling the young man close to him as he helped him up, whispering into his ear.

"Listen and listen good. I know you like causing trouble for Zaen, I have a friend like him in another town. If you know what's good for you, you'll stop messing with him and actually treat him decently. You might even find out that you have a thing or two in common with him. Also I sense something from you, but I can't figure out what it is. You should really start watching your back, or else something might happen, and I guarantee it won't be me."  
"Wha-"

Rikari shoved Sai away, going back to the other side of the net.

"So, now then... Shall we play volleyball?"

At which point Rikari served the ball, partially singing the lyrics of YOU GET TO BURNING as the game went on. At the end of it, Zaen ended up being the MVP. Rikari was in shock, seeing as he was probably more fit than him. He was clearly slipping...

The rest of school went on. At some point, Rikari saw Sai and Zaen talking. They looked like they were getting along, well, at least somewhat.

Later, after school, on the walk home...

"So Zaen, how'd you manage to outdo me in volleyball, anyway?"  
"Well, I'm kind of embarrassed about how I managed to do this, but... I kind of got bored and trained myself."  
"And there goes my ego. I was in the Fukumaden for four years training my ass off, and I get outdone by somebody that was bored."  
"Eheh. It's not something I'm really proud of..."

Later, once the party reached Riku's house, which had a whole bunch of boxes in front of it...

"Anyway, I need to go see Yakumo today, so I'll be taking a trip through the Fukumaden. I'll try to be back before sunset. Can you guys handle taking in these gunpla?"

And with that, Rikari went inside, quickly getting changed into his casual clothes, minus his vest before heading out to the shrine.

At the shrine...

"Fukumaden Gate... Invoke!

The Kimon in the Fukumaden began to glow a dull purple before Rikari walked on top of it, vanishing into the depths of the shogi door entrance of the Fukumaden.

"Alright... It's just a matter of selecting the right door now..."

After a little bit, Rikari had managed to locate one of the entrances to the Taihaku Shrine area.

Upon exiting...

"Woah!"  
"Oh. Sorry. Did I surprise you?"

Rikari had somehow landed on top of a rather well endowed for her age Miko. She had violet-blue hair and greenish-brown eyes. Upon helping her up, Rikari took a second to look at her.

"Wait a second... I know you... Nazuna?"  
"Rikari?"  
"Wow, you certianly grew up a lot in the four years, in more ways than one."  
"Cut the flattery. You know I have a boyfriend."  
"Yes, and he's very lucky to have you. Anyway, do you know where Yakumo is?"  
"He's out at the moment. Do you want me to leave a message?"  
"I need to get into Naraku. I think there might be someone there that I would very much like to meet with."

At which point Yakumo walked in, a grocery bag in his arms.

"I guess I could help you out, although I question why you didn't just go there yourself."  
"Finding that place is harder than you think. In the four years I was there, I never managed to find my way there."  
"That's understandable. Let me go get my Drive and I guess I'll show you the way."

And with that Yakumo vanished into another nearby room, coming back five minutes later, dressed in casual clothing.

"Sorry. I had to get changed, too."  
"Understandable. Now let's get going."

And so the duo went into the Fukumaden, and then into Naraku from there, ending up in a room with a weird turtle-shikigami, whom Rikari asked for directions to the Shikigami graveyard from there.

Upon reaching the Shikigami graveyard...

"Well, here goes nothing."

Rikari pulled out his Drive and a few Toujinfu, setting down the toujinfu in a pentagon shape, the characters for Seiryuu appearing each time. When he was done, he was standing in the middle of the circle, holding his Drive out in front of him.

"Seiryuu no Kibachiyo, if you are in this place, I order you to show yourself to me!"

Rikari flipped the screen foreward. Green shogi doors appeared in front of him.

"Rikari?"  
"I came to get you since Masaomi and you finished your contract."  
"You're really late in that case."  
"Sorry. Just found out this morning. Anyway, if you need a proper contract, I'd like for you to journey with Sentsa and myself to the end of the rainbow."  
"That's awfully broad."  
"It's a metaphor."  
"Seems legit. I guess I'll bite and join you."  
"Very well then. Seiryuu no Kibachiyo, I hereby make a contract with you! Stay with me 'till the end of the rainbow!"

The shogi doors opened up, Kibachiyo stepping out of them shortly before turning ethereal and vanishing into Rikari's Drive, which flashed the colors of Masaomi's Master Drive for a moment before returning to it's normal color, with a blue scale attached to a string materializing on Rikari's Drive afterwards.

"Now then, I don't know any of your In. This is a problem. Is there a place I can go to get them all?"

A somewhat-chibi Kibachiyo face showed up on the screen of the Drive.

"Well, Usubeni had them in a book, and Gasshin used to watch her, so he knew them by memory. I guess if you could somehow find the book or Gasshin, you could learn them all. Otherwise I only have one In that I can theoretically tell you."  
"Great. So that means I get to improvise. At least I can utilize the Synchronize function of this Drive if I can ever figure out how to make it work. I think. Anyway I have Riku waiting on me at home, so let's go back already."

And so the newly contracted Shikigami and Toujinshi went back to town. It was still late afternoon when they'd arrived.

"Well, that's a good thing. I still have time for Gunpla and homework."

And so Rikari went back to Riku's house, where he found Kogenta and Ruleo sparring in the front yard, somehow unnoticed by the other people walking by. Ah, it was good to know that Masaomi's seal was still in place after all this time. Walking inside, he found Zaen and Riku working on their math homework. It looked like Zaen had been doing some extensive tutoring, too.

"Wow Riku. Still not good at math?"  
"Erm..."  
"Don't even bother. I'll help too."

And with that, the rest of the day was spent between a combination of homework, dinner, gunpla, and gaming. The whole week pretty much went like this too. And then the weekend rolled around.

Zaen had invited Rikari and Riku over to his place for breakfast on saturday, followed by an attempt at training. Riku hadn't woken up yet, so Rikari just slipped out the door.

Later, at Zaen's place.

Rikari knocked on the door.

"Hello? Are you in there Zaen?"

A minute or so passed, and he knocked again, Zaen coming to the door this time, with Ruleo poking his head out behind him.

"Where's Riku?"  
"Ehehe... He wasn't up yet so I figured I'd let him sleep in. He'll be here eventually, I guess."  
"That's just mean."  
"I never said I was nice all the time. Anyway, I'm interested in that book you mentioned before. I took a field trip to Shikigami hell on Monday and contracted a Shikigami that I've been meaning to find, but I don't know his In. He said that I'd either have to track down a guy that I'm relatively sure is long gone, or that I'd have to find the book where one of his previous contractors had stored them."  
"I'm relatively sure this isn't the book you're after, but there's no harm in checking, I guess..."  
"Cool."

Upon entering Zaen's house, Rikari pulled out his Drive.

"Shikigami! Summon!"

Two silhouettes flashed in front of Rikari, Kibachiyo popping out of the Shogi doors that had spawned, laughing.

"Seiryuu no Kibachiyo! Kenzan!"  
"Kibachiyo, Zaen and Ruleo. Zaen and Ruleo, Seiryuu no Kibachiyo."  
"The pleasure's all mine."  
"N-nice to meet you."  
"I don't think we've actually formally met before today."  
"Anyway, let's cut to the chase."

And so Rikari cracked open the book that Zaen had shown him shortly after he'd arrived. Sadly, he didn't find Kibachiyo's In. And then Riku showed up. Eventually, the group took a field trip to that keystone up in the mountains nearby. Upon arriving, they ran into an enemy Toujinshi who introduced himself as Tenra. His shikigami was named Iniu no Yuki.

"Shikigami! Summon!"  
"Shikigami! Summon!"

Kogenta and Ruleo jumped out of their respective shogi gates.

"Byakko no Kogenta! Kenzan!"  
"Byakko no Ruleo! Kenan!"

Rikari held up his drive.

"Shikigami! Double Summon!"

INITIATING FUNCTION: SYNCHRONIZE...

A single shogi gate opened up, Sentsa stepping out, wearing what looked to be bits and pieces of his armor fused with Kibachiyo's armor. Setsumaru had been replaced by Kibachiyo's spear, too. He then spoke in what sounded like a mix of Kibachiyo and Sentsa's voices.

"Byakko no Sentsa! Kenzan!"

A battle broke out, two demon-beast-things jumping out of the bushes, attacking Sentsa and Kogenta.

At some point, Zaen must have figured out another one of Ruelo's In, because a flash occurred in their general direction, and then suddenly Ruelo had a sword. At which point the battle became a curbstomp because the enemy shikigami was promptly sliced to bits before turning into his name and vanishing.

Afterwords, Zaen was a little depressed, but after getting back to Riku's house, Rikari had all but forced him into assembling a gunpla with him in hopes that it would at least keep him busy long enough for him to not feel as bad about killing a shikigami. At some point, Rikari had put on some music and was singing along with it, too.

~At the begining, the bell echos to let you know~

~That it's just a matter of change from a terrible yesterday~

~It's all right, since you're here next to me~

~I'm not alone, and that's what'll awaken my courage~

~The sullen world dazzles so~

~It's so bright, I feel like it's becoming a sun~

~I'll share this with you, the joy of my hopes~

~This cross holds the deepness of our bond~

~The future and the present join together with this puzzle~

~Our hearts connnect for our dream~

~I'll become the proof~

And then the song ended.

"That was the AXESS theme, in case you were wondering. I'm kind of a huge fan of the EXE series, if my customized Drive wasn't enough of a hint."  
"I never would have guessed. I don't really watch much TV anymore."

And so the evening went on.

TO

BE

CONTINUED

* * *

If anybody's curious, Rikari did end up dying his hair. He bought the dye at some point between leaving for the Taihaku Shrine and heading to Naraku.


	26. Chapter 22 Phantasm

I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, The A Destined Friendship arc belongs to Zaix-fukutaicho, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

* * *

The group was surrounded by Youkai. They were almost reaching their limits after spending more than a few hours exterminating said Youkai. Rikari was quickly approaching exhaustion, too.

"Crap. My eyesight is getting bad..."

Rikari started to stagger, attempting to stay on his feet.

"Hey, Riku!"  
"What?"  
"I'm probably about to pass out. Would you mind moving my body to a safe place when Sentsa and Kibachiyo dematerialize?"  
"Now really isn't a good time! Are you sure you're about to collapse?"  
"Urgh..."

Rikari was on the ground. Riku facepalmed.

INITIALIZING PROGRAMS...

"I swear, you're hopeless without me, aren't you?"

FUNCTION - SYNCHRONIZE: ACTIVATED...

"I don't know what you're talking about."

GRANTING ACCESS TO MABOROSHI DRIVE MEDAL...

Rikari had managed to force himself up. Something was different though. Everybody in the group could feel it, but nobody wanted to comment on it.

INITIALIZATION COMPLETE.

Rikari quietly recited the In as he quickly swung his drive, a medal shooting out of his Style Ranker and into his drive in the process. Sentsa and Kibachiyo immediately gained blue flame-like auras upon it's completion.

"Hissatsu!"  
"Hissatsu!"

Kibachiyo and Sentsa jump into the air.

"Maboroshi!"  
"No Danmaku!"  
"Matsuri!"

And then there were bullets everywhere. All of the Youkai had seemingly vanished after the magical smoke had cleared, and Rikari was back on the ground, looking quite asleep.

The next day...

~At the beginning, the bell echos to let you know~

~That it's just a matter of change from a terrible yesterday~

~It's all right, since you're here next to me~

~I'm not alone, and that's what'll awaken my courage~

Rikari groped around for his Drive. Upon finding it he turned off the alarm.

"Ugh... What happened last night?"

Deciding it wasn't worth the effort to get out of bed, he tried to go back to sleep, only to be woken up again by Riku ten minutes later.

"We still have school, you know. Just because some idiot decided to bust open a Grand Kimon doesn't mean we get breaks."  
"What happened last night?"  
"Erm... You don't remember?"  
"I remember basically telling you that I was at my limit, and then falling to the ground, but after that, nothing."  
"You flat out destroyed the swarm of Youkai with a single In."  
"Oh wow."

Rikari tried to get up, only to find that he was practically pinned to the futon by blankets.

"Oh. Sorry about that. You felt really cold on the way back, so I figured I'd just make sure you were warm. The fun part was getting you changed. That was pretty tricky."  
"You have nice choice in underwear print though."  
"Erm... Thanks." 'And now Kogenta has fallen into creeper territory. Note to self: Never wear Yin-Yang print underwear or Fundoshi when he's present again at risk of molestation.' "Anyway... It seems like I'm getting better with my Chi restoring. I shouldn't be collapsing nearly as often."

Rikari sneezed.

"But it seems like I've gotten sick this time. I'll get ready for school now, though."

Riku got up, and was on his way out the door, when he paused.

"Oh, by the way. Zaen asked if he could move in with us stating it would probably be for the best if he did. I said it was fine, I hope you don't mind."  
"Not really. It's your house, after all."

And then Riku was out of the room. Rikari proceeded to get changed, packing his things for the upcoming school day.

On the way to school they met up with Zaen, who said that he wouldn't be able to move in until the weekend due to the amount of things he had at his house.

At school...

Rikari could feel Sai staring at him all day, but he didn't do anything about it. Zaen and Riku both made comments about it, with Rikari basically saying he would look into it later.

After class...

"Alright, you've been staring at me all day. What is it, Sai?"

Sai flinched. Rikari hadn't even turned around once and he still knew that he was being stared at. What was with this kid?

"I can see that you're slightly confused. If you really want to know what's up, come to the Tachibana Shrine in a few hours. You might want to bring some snacks too, because I'm not sharing mine."

Turning around, Rikari handed a memo to Sai.

"Now then, I must be on my way for now."

Turning towards the door, Rikari sung a little bit of Sousei no Aquarion to himself.

~For ten thousand years and two thousand more~

~Aishiteru~

Outside, at the gates of the school...

"Oi! Riku! Zaen! I thought I told you guys to wait up!"  
"Oh, right. Sorry, we ended up talking on the way out, and ended up here. You're lucky we didn't accidentally leave you here completely. Not that it would have mattered though."  
"'Not that it would have mattered' my ass. You knew I was delivering a memo."

Zaen let out a laugh. Rikari looked at him with a confused look.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be laughing, but you two fight like an old married couple sometimes."

Riku blushed slightly, with Rikari blushing a bit more visibly.

"Good news Rikari! We found somebody to replace Masaomi in the shipping department!"

Rikari's blushing intensified as he turned around to find Sentsa and Kibachiyo chuckling, as if they were having a conversation between themselves just prior.

"Good god you people, I swear!"

* * *

After getting home, Rikari had changed into his casual clothing, his entire outfit having received a few changes. Fubari had redone the vest, adding purple flames to the front and back. He'd even redone the hood with the purple flame motif, to boot! His pants had recieved the same treatment. And he even had fingerless gloves now! Rikari took a little bit of time to look at his new outfit in the mirror in his room.

"You flatter me, Fuba-tan. You really do. These purple flames are a really nice touch."

Rikari shuffled through his vest pockets for toujinfu.

"Now then... Ah! There were still a few in here!"

Pulling out the Toujinfu, Rikari held a few of them up, various characters appearing all around him as he re-imbued his outfit with defensive enchants.

"Alright, now that I've gotten that out of the way, I have an appointment up at the shrine!"

Putting in his earbuds after plugging them into his Drive, he headed out the door, telling Riku and Zaen that he'd be back as he walked past their study session.

* * *

Heading to the store, Rikari picked up a few snacks, since he anticipated that Sai probably didn't take the snack part oh his memo seriously. On the way to the shrine, he sung a bit to himself and Sentsa.

~ANSWER MUST BE SOMEWHERE~ ~Someone knows about me more than anyone else~ ~Because I believe~ ~I cannot move an inch with these piano strings covering the entire world~ ~They cut frigidly into my skin~ ~Like setting a trap somewhere and then removing it~ ~If you reach out you'll find the tomorrow you longed for~ ~Touch it with your fingertips~ ~ANOTHER DAY TOMORROW~ ~Don't stop pressing on from yesterday~ ~Close your eyes and run~ ~That's the future~ ~ANSWER MUST BE SOMEWHERE~ ~Someone knows about me more than anyone else~ ~Because I believe~

"Another song I rarely hear you sing."  
"2006 song. STREAM opening, Be Somewhere. The singer was BuZy."  
"Somebody's being awfully upfront."  
"Gee. Thanks."

Meanwhile, at the shrine...

"Rikari sure is taking a while to get here. I wonder what he's going to talk to me about. It better not be something wierd..."

And then Rikari arrived at the shrine.

"Sorry I'm late. I'm hoping you brought snacks, because magical things are about to happen."  
"I brought a few... Although what you just said makes next to no sense. In fact, it makes even less sense than this memo."  
"Oh, right. I keep forgetting normal people exist."  
"...Normal?"  
"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN. QUICKLY, INTO THE SHRINE BEFORE THE ALIENS COME TO TAKE US AWAY~"

And with that Rikari shoved Sai into the Shrine, entering the door moments after and invoking a travel seal from his Drive. The space inside was a void full of gates.

"Wha- What's this?!"  
"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~"

And then it came into view. The sky above the field Rikari was looking into dragging Sai into to explain stuff.

TO BE CONTINUED

* * *

Wow, it's been a while since I submitted a chapter, huh? This one's been sitting on my computer for a whole two months, actually! I was trying to figure out a way to progress it for the longest while, but I couldn't ever figure it out. Well, UNTIL I talked with Zaix on skype, then I decided to end the chapter on a cliffhanger, and as much as I hate doing that, it had to be done to make my fic not a dead fic or an orphaned fic.


End file.
